THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Ludvig Aberg to the interview room here at The Sentry. You're making your first start in Maui after winning the RSM Classic. Can you talk a little bit about what it means to start your season off here.
LUDVIG ABERG: Definitely. It's one of them tournaments that walking down 18 you know all the shots that have been hit there and obviously such a privilege to be in this field. It means that you've done something really good. I'm just proud to be a part of it and looking forward to a nice week.
THE MODERATOR: You've had a little bit of time off since the Grant Thornton Invitational. What have you spent your time doing?
LUDVIG ABERG: I've been a little bit of everywhere, actually. So we played, obviously, the Grant Thornton tournament in Naples, and then I went back to Europe for a couple of weeks. I was with my girlfriend in England for a while, and then came over and did the holidays in Sweden. So it was nice to kind of come back and see some family, friends, but it was quite busy as well coming back, to be fair.
THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions.
Q. Have you been surprised by how quickly you found success on the PGA TOUR?
LUDVIG ABERG: I wouldn't say surprised. I think at the end of the day I know my qualities and I think what I've been impressed by myself is how quickly those have shown up, I think, because whether you like it or not, it is different playing college than playing on the TOUR. It's same club, the same ball, all those things, but it is a little bit different and I feel like I've been handling all the off-course things quite well and therefore because I've handled that quite well, my qualities have shown up on the golf course too.
Q. Is there anything about the assimilation process from college to pros that surprised you or maybe something that you weren't expecting?
LUDVIG ABERG: I feel like the biggest difference for me playing college golf versus professional is just the amount of golf you play. Even though we play quite a busy schedule in college, it's nothing to what we do here, where you travel a lot, you play four or five weeks in a row and -- it's just a lot more golf. But it's something that I like. It's something that I enjoy. I like in my practice myself to do lot of playing and those things and I think it's very healthy. The ability to score, the ability to play well, even though you're not feeling great in those things, I think has made me able to perform even though, yeah, those things.
Q. As big a deal as winning is, the importance of it, is there another moment before Switzerland before Sea Island that was kind of a spark of confidence or momentum for you?
LUDVIG ABERG: I mean, obviously, Switzerland was so much fun because you want to win tournaments and that's what you like to do. Up until the point where you actually have won a tournament you haven't won one. So I think that was a big week for me.
But also the week we had in Rome for the Ryder Cup was big for me. It was kind of the first time that I got to spend a lot more time with those guys, and obviously they're the best in the world, so I just try to listen to them and speak to them and for me to build relationships with a lot of those guys was pretty cool. That helped me to then be able to play good golf the rest of the year, I think.
Q. Was that intimidating at all?
LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah. No, it was definitely intimidating. If I said it wasn't I would be lying because it is what you want to do, but it's also quite nerve-racking at times. I think I did it quite well, just to be okay with it being intimidating and nerve-racking. I was just being okay with all the emotions that might show up and I didn't try to fight it, I didn't try to block it out, it was just try to embrace it and obviously have a lot of fun as well.
Q. When you were named to the team, I'm sure you started some sort of a group chat. How many phone numbers did you have?
LUDVIG ABERG: What's that?
Q. How many phone numbers did you have of the other players on the team?
LUDVIG ABERG: Of the teammates? Just one, yeah.
Q. Who is was it?
LUDVIG ABERG: Nicolai. Actually, two. Sepp as well. Yeah. Sorry.
But, no, none of the other guys.
Q. What do you make of this golf course? You haven't been here before, I'm guessing, on vacation or anything like that?
LUDVIG ABERG: No.
Q. Is there anything that this place reminds you of where you have played?
LUDVIG ABERG: I think the first thing that strikes is obviously it's a lot up-and-down elevation is a big part of this golf course. You will get a lot of wind, which I think this golf course needs. I think it's a lot of holes that goes with the wind and the prevailing wind is supposed to take the ball some way.
So I think you just have to be okay with it blowing a lot. But we used to play a college event in Hawaii, on the other island, and it was a lot like this as well where it was up-and-down. You don't really get that in Europe. You don't get that kind of golf over there, so I haven't really played it a lot, to be fair, but I love playing in the wind. I think it's fun, I think it's -- you get a little bit more creative, and I'm looking forward to it.
Q. What was the other one, the college event?
LUDVIG ABERG: We used to play on the Big Island, Hawaii, I think. Actually, last year we were supposed to play, but it got cancelled because of wind. It was blowing, like, 60, so they had to cancel the event. We played, like, three holes and then went off. So, yeah.
But it was very similar, up-and-down and the edge of the mountain kind of thing.
THE MODERATOR: What did you do with the rest of your time when you were on the island?
LUDVIG ABERG: Oh, we had a great time. (Laughing).
Q. What did you do?
LUDVIG ABERG: Played Spikeball on the beach and those things.
Q. Who was the most intimidating? You were asked if you were starstruck around those guys. Is there anyone that was particularly intimidating to meet or interact with?
LUDVIG ABERG: I wouldn't say a specific person was intimidating. I think it was more of the whole setting and environment of being in the same team room as those guys. I mean, I was very -- I wouldn't say surprised, but I was very -- I thought it was really cool how they treated me, even though these guys I've looked up to for so long and they treated me with the respect, that -- obviously, I'm going to treat them with respect, but I felt like it was mutual, and that stuck out to me that I thought was really cool.
So I never felt any kind of intimidation towards my teammates. It was more the whole, I guess, setting and environment being in that team room, I think.
Q. You've obviously had such a meteoric rise to where you are right now. Do you feel the weight of expectations at all starting this new year?
LUDVIG ABERG: I think there's always going to be expectations. It's kind of what you sign up for in professional sports. So I do understand that it is a part of it, but I'm always going to have a lot of expectations on myself as well. I know my qualities and I know what I want to do, so if I don't live up to that, I'm going to be pissed myself.
So obviously I understand all the things, the outside noise, but that's also nothing that I can really control. It is what it is and all I can try to do is play each tournament the best I can and then kind of see where that goes.
Q. What are your expectations for yourself this year?
LUDVIG ABERG: I'm just really looking forward to playing all these golf courses and all these tournaments that I've watched for so long. We were looking at the schedule the other week, and it's just one tournament after another that I'm like, Whoa, I just want to play it. Bay Hill, PLAYERS, Pebble, Genesis, I think that's what I'm really looking forward to. Obviously you want to perform and I'm a competitor, so I want to compete, but I don't have like a set number or something like that that I'm looking towards.
Q. What did you hit into 18?
LUDVIG ABERG: What's that? Here?
Q. Yeah.
LUDVIG ABERG: I hit -- I played it twice. First round, I hit 5-wood, and second round I hit 5-iron, I think. It was a little bit different wind.
Q. You hit the fairway okay?
LUDVIG ABERG: I did, yeah. It's quite wide.
Q. Couple oddball questions. What's your favorite restaurant in Lubbock?
LUDVIG ABERG: Oh. (Laughing). There's one called West Table that's quite nice. It's downtown.
Q. Steak?
LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, steak.
Q. Big steaks?
LUDVIG ABERG: That's what I would get there, yeah. You wouldn't want to get any kind of seafood in Lubbock (laughing).
Q. Why -- did you get your degree?
LUDVIG ABERG: I did not.
Q. What do you have left and do you plan to finish?
LUDVIG ABERG: I have about 23 hours left.
Q. Why did you, I think I talked to Greg about this at some point, but why did you stay an extra year? Was there a thought to come out early?
LUDVIG ABERG: We spoke about it and, honestly, I felt like I wasn't ready to turn pro. I feel like, golf-wise, I had a little, a few things that I wanted to improve on. I have -- and then also the whole PGA TOUR University program came up and we didn't really know where that was going to go, but we felt like it was probably going to go somewhere nice. So, for me, I would have, I just wanted to give myself the best opportunity whenever I did turn pro, and for me that was to stay for my fourth year in school.
Q. Back to the steak for just a minute, because we could talk about the differences of southern Sweden and west Texas all day long, but had you ever seen steak like that growing up?
LUDVIG ABERG: No. The ribeye's a lot bigger. I used to like -- so my coach, my assistant coach, Nathan, he was obsessed by steak. So, any time we would go to a tournament, there would always be a steak house plan. So, he would always try to make us order steaks, and I fell in love with the ribeye medium rare. It was really nice. But, yeah, I try not to have it too often, but every now and then it's nice.
Q. Lastly, why did you choose to play Sony? How did you go about setting a schedule for yourself?
LUDVIG ABERG: It kind of, it was kind of similar from what I tried to do last year. I just want to play as much as I can. I feel like I want to take advantage of playing and seeing all the courses. I think you learn a lot more about yourself playing than not playing, so, obviously, I still, I feel such a privilege to be able to play these events, so that's what I want to do. Then, obviously, try to lay out the schedule so that you want to play these big events as well. Obviously, being over here in Hawaii it makes, it made sense to play next week as well.
THE MODERATOR: All right, thank you so much.
LUDVIG ABERG: Thank you.
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