THE MODERATOR: We will start off with our first press conference of the day. We are joined here with Ludvig Åberg. You're making your BMW championship debut. What's the excitement as you're entering your second playoff event?
LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, absolutely. I've looked forward to the Playoffs for a long time, and to be here at a course where no one has been before, it's quite encouraging and exciting. Really looking forward to it.
Q. Just got done with the pro-am. What are your initial thoughts of the course and playing at elevation?
LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, it presents some challenges for sure a golf course at sea level doesn't. I think these first couple days we try to adjust, get a baseline. I do have some experience playing at elevation, so I'm not too uncomfortable doing that. But the golf course is really pretty, very beautiful. But it's quite the walk.
Q. Xander and Scottie have each had historic seasons. I was wondering, if you could choose to have one or the other of those seasons, which would you choose and why?
LUDVIG ABERG: I would take any of them, to be honest with you. I think it's really hard to pick. I think both of them are unbelievable golfers, unbelievable players, and I think they're treating the game the right way. I'm very inspired by them.
But to pick one of them is really difficult for me.
Q. Is there something you admire about each of their games, or do they just go about the game very similarly? Do they go at it differently?
LUDVIG ABERG: I think I've been fortunate to be able to play with them a few times, and they don't really have a weakness, any of them. They're so well-rounded players. They're so good at basically everything that you can definitely see why they're playing so well.
Yeah, I think it's great for the TOUR to have those guys, and they're really good players.
Q. Last season technically was your rookie year, but you didn't play very much out here. Do you feel like you're just starting to complete your first season out here?
LUDVIG ABERG: Oh, yeah, for sure. I almost still consider myself a rookie. With what we said before, this is my first playoff, my first kind of going through all the tournaments in the schedule. I'm still figuring out the lay of the land a little bit.
But yeah, I still consider myself a rookie, even though it might not feel that way. But it's been a very, very cool season.
Q. How would you rate your year, and where are you in terms of the goals you wanted to accomplish?
LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, I think it's been a lot of learning curves. Obviously for me, being able to play all the big events, being in situations I've never been in before, and I felt like I handled it quite well.
Obviously as a competitor you always want to do better, and that's the same thing for me. But I feel very fortunate to be here in this situation and to have a chance for a playoff run.
Q. There are guys this week who in addition to trying to make the 30 for the FedExCup are trying to qualify for the Presidents Cup. What was that pressure like for you last year, and how did you handle it?
LUDVIG ABERG: To qualify for the Ryder Cup? Yeah, definitely. I think everyone wants to be a part of those teams. It's pretty obvious. It was the same thing for me.
First when I turned pro, I guess my first couple tournaments I didn't really think of it that much. I didn't really think I was going to be in the talks for a Ryder Cup team.
But as I played a little bit more and then -- yeah, it was just really cool to be in those talks. When I had a chance to go back to Europe and play and played in Czech and played in Switzerland, it's just cool to be in those conversations, and I felt like I took advantage of it quite well, as well.
Q. What was it like when you got paired with Luke and you knew he's checking your game out?
LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, that was probably the first time that it really hit me. We played the first two rounds in Detroit together, and that was the first time that I'd been around him. It was just nice to, I guess, create a relationship with him and speak to him. But yeah, you could definitely tell that he was looking a little bit.
It was very flattering, of course.
Q. Have you had a milkshake yet?
LUDVIG ABERG: I haven't. I've had some smoothies but I haven't had a milkshake. I feel like I need to save those for a little bit later because I feel like if you start too early in the week you're just going to not stop.
Q. As you reflect back to your win last fall at the RSM Classic, how crucial was that win to get you in the category of the Aon Next 10 and get in to play the Signature Events?
LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, it was really big because I wasn't in the top 50 through the Playoffs. I had a chance to play my way into in the fall schedule, and that propelled me throughout the remainder of the season where all of a sudden I got into Maui and I got into the elevated events that I didn't have a chance to play in before. Then it kind of spiraled from there. I was super fortunate to have those experiences, and I think that's what's so great about the fall season, that you have the ability to do so.
Good golf is always going to get rewarded, and I was fortunate to be able to take advantage of that. Will.
Q. You mentioned a new course. How much of it have you had the chance to see so far?
LUDVIG ABERG: I got to play the front nine yesterday and the back nine today. It's really pretty at this. Visually it's very nice. It's quite the walk. I was telling Joe, my caddie, I don't think we're going to have a lot of conversations uphill this week. It's just going to be focusing on breathing.
But it's very nice. It's quite challenging. But you can definitely see some similarities between Memorial and some of the Valhalla, as well, kind of a mix of that. But it'll be a good challenge to play.
Q. It feels like there's a good mix of elevation change out there. In addition to the altitude, what kind of complications might that present?
LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, I think so. Playing at elevation or at altitude is a little bit of a challenge, depending on the window that you play it, and that's what I felt like these first couple days we really tried to get a baseline of those things. Then obviously it's going to affect if you knock it down a little bit or get it up in the air.
But I try to keep it very similar. I don't try to complicate it. Try to simplify it and make it very similar to how I treat a normal tournament.
Q. You mentioned that you have played at elevation. Where have you played at elevation, and what did you learn when you played there?
LUDVIG ABERG: So the school I went to, Texas Tech, is at 3,000 feet elevation. Every time we were home, we would always play a little bit -- this is more, this is around 6,000, I think, so it's a little bit more than that.
But I think the biggest thing that I learned from that is just not to overcomplicate it. I think I just try to keep it very simple. I get a baseline, instead of my 7-iron going 170, it'll go 190. It's just a little bit of a difference in that, but then I treat it very similar.
Q. It sounds like you've only played them one time, but one of the things the organizers of this tournament were interested in is how 17 and 18 get played this week because during The International, the previous pro tournament that was here, the competition was often over. The victory was never at stake or rarely at stake. Having played them just once, was there anything about those two holes that you think sets players up to really come from behind, or no, those are holes you've just got to hang on for?
LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, I mean, I think coming down the last couple holes to win the tournament on Sunday, you have to hit really good shots.
I think because 17 is a reachable par-5 with an iron, I think you're going to see some 3s. You might see some 6s because of the tee ball.
Then 18 is a strong par-4 where you have to hit it in the fairway to have a chance, and then you have a mid iron to a long iron in. You can definitely see some 3s and 5s there, as well.
I think it's a great golf course. You have to hit the shots. You have to take them on, which I think is a testament to a good golf course.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports