THE MODERATOR: Welcome Ludvig Aberg to the 2023 John Deere Classic. Ludvig, making your first start at the tournament, but your ninth start on tour, your fourth as a professional. I'm guessing you've had a chance to maybe see the golf course. First impressions, and what are you sort of anticipating this week at the John Deere Classic?
LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, absolutely. We played the back nine this morning, so played nine.
It's a great course. Obviously being a fan of the PGA TOUR for such a long time, I've seen the tournament, and I recognize a few holes. Especially 18 and 17 coming down the stretch.
So I think it's going to take a lot of birdies. I think it's going to be pretty low scores with the weather being -- if the weather holds up.
Greens are good. Greens are rolling really nice, and, yeah, just really looking forward to it.
THE MODERATOR: You've posted a couple of top 25s in your first three starts as a professional. You just mentioned too, coming here and not being in this place before, but seeing it on television, how much of a help is that to actually see some of those tournaments that you have mentioned being played on TV before you go to them?
LUDVIG ABERG: It's helpful, absolutely. I mean, obviously it's going to be a little bit different from day-to-day and tournament-to-tournament, but you've seen a few shots. You recognize a few of the -- obviously like what Jordan did here when he won his first tournament. Those kind of things that they're kind of in your mind when you are playing that hole.
So I think it's going to be an advantage, but I also think it's good for the guys that have been here a few times as well.
THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions.
Q. You got a chance to play with the European Ryder Cup captain last week. I guess, what did you take from that experience, and how much is the Ryder Cup kind of on your mind?
LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, I got to play two rounds with Luke and Danny last week. It was a lot of fun. It was a little bit nervous, but, Luke, he was a great guy. We talked a little bit at least during the round and got to know him a little bit more.
If you would have asked me a few weeks ago if Ryder Cup was on my mind, no, absolutely not because I was still in college and I didn't think about it. But obviously being in that situation a little bit more, as a competitor and as a golfer, Ryder Cup is something you dreamed of since from the first time you saw it as a little kid.
Obviously, I would have loved it, but it's also not on my mind all the time. All I can do is try to prepare for every tournament and try to do as good as I can and see where that takes me.
Sometime in my career I would love to play a Ryder Cup, absolutely.
Q. Been a quick transition for you from college to tour life. What has that been like for you, and what have been some of the most eye-opening experiences for you, things that you weren't expecting to see out here?
LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, it's been a few intense weeks. Ever since I played my first event in Canada a couple of weeks ago, it's been kind of on the go all the time.
But, you know, I try to be prepared for it. I try to prepare as much as I could, and it's going to be -- it's going to take some time, I think. It's going to take some time to get used to it. And whether you like it or not, it's a completely new setting. So there's a lot that goes into that.
All I can do is try to embrace it, try to have fun with it, and try to learn as much as I can because there are going to be things that are different.
We were just talking about going from week to week to week, which in college you normally had a few days between the tournaments at least, but now you're leaving the last round, and you have a fresh round the next day.
I think those things are going to be a little bit different, and I think being okay with being a little bit uncomfortable at times is going to be important.
That's how I try to view it and then just see where that takes me.
Q. Are you still uncomfortable out here?
LUDVIG ABERG: I think uncomfortable is the wrong word. I think I'm more getting used to it, and I think I'm learning as I go.
I don't think uncomfortable is the right word. I think I'm still in the learning process, but I love playing here. I love playing all these events that I've seen on TV so many years.
It's a little bit surreal. I almost have to pinch myself when I wake up in the morning, but I'm so fortunate to be here and looking forward to a fun week.
Q. Speaking of surreal, I don't know if you have seen or not, some people are picking you as a favorite this week. How do you react to that, other than the laugh?
LUDVIG ABERG: (Laughing) Yeah, that's a little bit surreal, I think. Just like you said, I think it's going to take some time to get used to all these things, and it's a little bit different from college. But, yeah, like you said, it's a little bit surreal.
Q. Just wondered, is there anything about being on tour now, you've played in a few events, is there anything that surprised you or maybe that was unexpected that was eye-opening?
LUDVIG ABERG: That's a good question. I don't think -- I mean, I was fortunate to have played a few of these events before I turned pro, and I think that's so important.
I think that's why all these tournaments, especially John Deere, Travelers that do such a good job of giving sponsors invites to younger players. I know Michael and Gordon are here this week, and I think it's so valuable.
But I think the biggest thing for me that's changed is just going from week to week to week. I mean, this is only my third week, and I'm playing next week as well.
I think getting used to being on the road traveling, finding places to eat, finding places to stay, all these things are going to get easier every time I come back to an event that I have been to before.
But I think just all these new things, all these new impressions is kind of adding up, but it's also so much fun and something that I have dreamed of for a long time.
THE MODERATOR: To Tom's point earlier about perhaps being the favorite, five of the last nine winners here have made this tournament their first PGA TOUR victory, so it's not out of the realms of possibility. When you come into a tournament like this and hear something like that, does it make you uneasy or give you confidence?
LUDVIG ABERG: I think it is what it is. I think whatever you say it's going to be.
I think for me I've been close to the lead now for a few tournaments, and it's a lot of fun. All I can do is try to put myself in that position again.
If I can prepare well and I can play well and then come Sunday I might have a chance to win, that would be great, but I'm also going to be okay if I don't.
So whether I shoot 75 or 65, I'm still going to be me, and I'm still going to be okay with that.
Q. You mentioned the grind out here a little bit. You've only been out here for three weeks. How difficult has it been for you to go back to back to back like this, and is it more difficult than you what you thought it was going to be?
LUDVIG ABERG: It hasn't been that bad so far. I've been so well taken care of by everyone that I have met and all the people involved, so it hasn't been that bad.
I would imagine if you play seven or eight, that's going to be a little bit tougher. Like I said before, I'm still in the stage where I'm almost pinching myself in the morning when I wake up, so I don't have an issue with trying to have fun. Yeah, I'm just looking forward to it and try to play as much golf as I can.
Q. What is your schedule after this week?
LUDVIG ABERG: I'll play the Scottish next week. I got an invite, so I'll fly over there. Then I'm not in the Open yet. Hopefully I'll be able to play my way into it.
Other than that, I'll go back the week after the Open and play the 3M and then play the Wyndham as well before the playoffs.
Q. Are you on the charter from here?
LUDVIG ABERG: Yep.
THE MODERATOR: As the first PGA TOUR University player in history to get a full exempt status out here, I know you made a trip to the Global Home at the PGA TOUR Headquarters. What was that like, and what stood out to you the most after the few hours that you spent there?
LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, it was really cool. I think that was when I realized that I was actually a member of the PGA TOUR. It took a little time to sink in, but it was really cool.
I got to meet a lot of good people. I got to meet a lot of good people behind the scenes that you don't think about when you are playing golf, but they do a tremendous job of getting everything together.
It was really cool to see kind of behind the scenes that I haven't really been exposed to before, but then I got to see the back side of the TPC Sawgrass practice facility, and pretty unbelievable that I'm actually a member there, which also took some time to get used to, but it was cool.
Q. Talk about that, the PGA TOUR University opportunity and what that means to you and getting kind of -- being able to jump-start your career through that.
LUDVIG ABERG: Oh, absolutely. I think the PGA TOUR U team is unbelievable what they're doing. Not only for me, but for everyone who is a graduating senior.
I think the opportunities that come with it, if you would have told me two years ago that I was going to be a member of the PGA TOUR coming out of school, I would be over the moon.
Just to have status out of college is so valuable, whether it's Korn Ferry, whether it's the PGA TOUR, and it's only going to get better, too. I'm super grateful for all their support. I'm just kind of fortunate to be the first guy to take advantage of it.
Q. I know you played at Texas Tech. What led you to the States to begin with? Just speak to that journey a little bit coming over.
LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah. So I played a bunch of amateur events in Europe growing up as a junior. I was fortunate to have my coach coming over there, Greg Sands. He came over to recruit me, and I guess he liked what he saw and offered me a spot on the team.
It was a little bit of a change coming from Sweden to Lubbock because it was very different, just a little bit (smiling).
I wouldn't want to have it any other way. Lubbock is so much fun, and I still live there. I'm going to be living there until the end of the year.
So it's always nice to come back and use the facilities because I know a lot of people there as well, but it was a little bit of a transition as well. I know it's not the same, but it was kind of similar to this, to settling into the PGA TOUR.
That took me some time to get used to college, and I would assume it's going to take me a little bit of time to get used to this as well.
Q. I was going to ask, how much has that helped? You have been through a similar transition.
LUDVIG ABERG: I think it helped me a lot. Coming from Sweden, obviously English is not my first language, and all of a sudden you're at this big campus with 35,000 students, and you don't know anyone, and you don't know where to go. It takes some ownership.
I think I had to mature a little bit faster than I would have liked to, but I think it's very valuable. I think I can use some of that for this as well.
THE MODERATOR: Did any other players from Sweden that you knew of give you any advice when you transitioned, when you came here that had been through the same experience?
LUDVIG ABERG: When I was recruited, we had two Swedish guys on the team: Frederick Nilehn and Adam Blomme. I was able to talk to them a little bit, and everyone kind of said the same thing. Like, just be okay. It might take some time. You might not shoot 64 every round coming right out of the gate.
That's kind of how I try to view it. It came easier and easier.
THE MODERATOR: What about off the course? Were there one or two specifics? Was it the food that was really difficult with the transition?
LUDVIG ABERG: The food is different. I like to cook. I didn't like to cook back then, but you can -- if you want, you can eat very bad food in college.
So I try to avoid that, and I try to eat as healthy as I could, but it's very easy to go to all these bad places in the start.
Q. Where are maybe some of the unhealthy things that you enjoyed?
LUDVIG ABERG: Chick-fil-a is nice. I can go on, but Chick-fil-a is probably a top one, yeah.
THE MODERATOR: We appreciate your time and have a great week.
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