THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Ludvig Åberg into the RBC Heritage media center. You're making your second start here at Harbour Town and had a chance to see the course this morning. Can you talk a little bit about it and what you expect to see starting the rounds tomorrow.
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, it's a really cool golf course. It's a smart golf course. You kind of have to obviously place your tee balls and play a little chess when you're playing the golf course. But it's a cool Pete Dye place that I really enjoy, and I look forward to the challenge.
There will be some firm greens it seems like. They firmed up quite a bit from yesterday. Probably going to be expecting that the next couple days, as well. It'll be good. It'll be a good test.
Q. You're coming off a seventh-place finish last week at the Masters. How do you go about turning the page after an eventful week?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, obviously last week was a big week. It takes a lot out of you, and Monday morning I almost felt a little hungover, even though I didn't have a sip of alcohol. It's a cool place to come to. It's a very different vibe here compared to last week. But obviously it's a massive event, and we're really excited to get going on Thursday.
Q. Why didn't you have a sip of alcohol?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Probably should have.
Q. What is the transition like going from not only just a pressure-packed week, four days of high energy, to a very charming atmosphere here, even though it's a strong field and a lot is at stake and things like that?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, it's a tricky dynamic. I experienced it the first time last year obviously going from the Masters to here. I really enjoyed it. I enjoy the tests and the difference in this golf course compared to last week. It's not just go ahead and hit driver on every single hole. You have to think about it. Like I said before, you almost have to play a little chess when you're playing this place, which creates a different challenge that I really enjoy.
But yeah, it's a tricky part coming off last week when there's so much -- it's almost like the air just comes out of you and you feel a little deflated. But it's still a big event, obviously, and we're really excited to be here.
Q. Ludvig, I think it was at Valero you were talking a little bit about your swing, your club face maybe getting a little bit too open, not being able to turn. What causes that in your swing for you, and how have you been trying to fix it? You obviously played well last week so it seems like maybe you made some progress?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, I think so. It's funny because the more I play, the better it gets. So the more I sort of get away from 7-irons in the mirror, on the range sort of thing.
But yeah, I think what causes it is more probably just a tendency. Everyone has got their own tendencies that they work with, and everyone is slipping into different patterns of the movement of their bodies, and that's just the way that my body always sort of goes to. It's probably something I'm going to have to work on for the next -- the rest of my career most likely.
But I liked last week because I could start to see -- I recognized the misses a lot more, which I'm okay with missing, as long as it matches up with what I feel. I felt like in San Antonio and at THE PLAYERS it didn't match up at all, so it becomes really hard to score. It was a lot better last week, which was nice to see.
Yeah, looking forward to keep progressing and make it a little bit sharper this week.
Q. For a while on Sunday at the Masters, Rory was pretty far out in front, then he makes a couple mistakes and suddenly you're right in it. At what point were you kind of aware of that? Did you feel that manifest in you at all, like nerves as you realize, hey, I'm not five back, I'm one back? Did that come up at all?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, I think so. Augusta is such a cool place where you hear everything that's going on, even though you're still looking at the leaderboard.
Pretty much throughout the whole day we knew what was happening, and it wasn't until somewhere around probably 13, 14 when I started to pay more attention to it, and I remember obviously I made birdie on 15, which was nice, to get me to tied maybe or maybe one back, something like that.
After that, it's a cool place because you definitely hear everything that's going on. I probably felt like 10 wasn't going to be enough. I probably needed to get to 11, 12 if I wanted a chance for a playoff, and that ended up being the number, too, that I didn't get to, which was unfortunate.
It's a cool place to play golf at.
Q. This was a little bit announced last week while you were busy doing your golf thing. They're going to have a mixed team for the Olympics in '28 and wanted to get your thoughts on how you think that will go, 36 holes of four-balls and foursomes?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: I think it will be really cool. I think the Olympics already was sort of a different event from the start, so I really enjoyed the news that we get to team up with some of the girls.
I feel like we don't really do that at all anyway, so I think it's a nice time to do it, at the same time as you're playing individual.
I'm all for it. I remember we had some conversations a while back when they started asking us about it, and I was positive back then and I'm positive now about it. So I'm looking forward to it. I think it'll be cool. Obviously it's quite some time away, so hopefully I'll be on the team, but I'm glad they announced those changes.
Q. Last week you played really well around the greens. You had your best performance around the greens in a major championship to date. Is there anything new you're working on in your short game?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Not necessarily. I actually put in a new wedge this week compared to last week. I felt like some of the -- when it gets really firm, it's almost like a hard pan sort of underneath the surface. I felt like I was lacking a little bit in that. But it's nice to see that it's progressing.
I don't necessarily change too much. I just try to improve a little bit, a little bit, and to make it a little bit sharper. But it's definitely nice to see that it's improved a little bit at least.
Q. Do you play a lot of mixed team events, or did you growing up in Sweden?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Not a ton. We played a couple sort of foursome matches, junior events sort of thing. But not a ton. It would always be on the same sites, but it wasn't like a mixed leaderboard, if you will. It was more two tournaments going on at the same time on the same course. That was what we did.
Q. Do you have any top-of-mind picks that you'd like to play with?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: From the Olympics standpoint? Yeah, I think all the Swedish girls are really nice. They're great people. I think whoever -- there's a couple in college right now that are probably going to be sort of on the watch list I would imagine. I think in a couple years' time we'll see.
But yeah, there's multiple Swedish girls that are really nice that I wouldn't mind playing with.
Q. This is probably a fairly weird question for you, but I'd like a good question if you can do it. As long as you've been good at golf, really competitive, did you have to learn how to accept losing, or did that come naturally? Because you don't win all the time.
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, no, you don't win at all it feels like. I think golf humbles you in that way. I played a bunch of different sports growing up, mainly soccer, and I didn't like soccer because ultimately it wasn't in my hands if we won or not, and I didn't necessarily enjoy that.
I think that's why I leaned towards golf, because if I lose, I lose, and it's all on me, and if I win, I win, and it's all on me, as well. Although we are a team, me and Joe.
But I think it's definitely a humbling sport because you're going to lose a lot, and it can be challenging at times. It can be quite tricky to handle. But I think at this point we're all so used to it that you're sort of okay with it.
But yeah, we're all competitors and we all want to win. But yeah, unfortunately it doesn't happen as often as I would like it to.
Q. Did you ever have any bad moments as a kid?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: In terms of --
Q. Maybe not losing with great, let's call it, dignity?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, I think I didn't really get angry. I didn't really throw things around me; I was just really bitter, really grumpy and quiet, disappointed in myself if I had a bad game or a bad round or something like that. But I can't remember I had like a tantrum or an instance where it was -- I don't think so.
Q. As you look at last week, what is your immediate thought maybe the day after? Is your first thought to what you did wrong or is it looking back at the week as a whole and saying it wasn't all that bad?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: I think it's a little bit of both. I think you should definitely look at things that you want to do better and things that you want to improve, have conversations with the people close to you and figure out, okay, what did we do good and what are we missing.
I'd like to -- I feel like there's such an emphasis on things that are missing in this sport, whereas me and our team, we worked a lot on the things that are actually working and just keep doing that.
I think it's easy to forget things that you're doing well and not necessarily focus on that too much, but I think from last week there's a few things that I picked up on that was pretty cool, and I'm encouraged by it, but there's also a few things that I'd like to improve on, too.
Q. You alluded to just a couple great young Swedish golfers in college. Just wondering, you're not that far removed from being one of those kids coming from Sweden. Do you stay attuned to kind of the junior scene in the country, who's playing well, who's coming up? Are you already a mentor at all, even at 25?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, I wouldn't call myself a mentor. There's no one that's sort of reached out to me.
But yeah, I like to keep up with it. My swing coach, Hans, he's in charge of the high school that I went to, so he's obviously in that world, and I love to ask him questions about the kids coming up. It seems like everyone has got 85 ball speed or something like that.
It's just interesting to see how they work, and it's fun to be around. It's really fun to sort of hang out with those, and they're all super eager to learn and super enthusiastic.
I was in Lubbock a couple weeks ago before the Valero event, so I like to keep up with the golf team in college, too. It's fun to have a good relationship still with Coach, so we text every now and then and I ask him what the team is and how it's looking.
Yeah, I like to keep that part of my life close to me, even though we're sort of busy over here doing our thing.
Q. You mentioned just briefly there kids just getting faster and faster as they come up. Do you feel like that's one of those things, you're already one of the longest hitters, but that you have to continually get faster just to keep up with the growing pace of what younger players are doing?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, I think so. I think if you want to stay competitive and stay injury-free, you need to take care of those things. Just looking at -- I played two rounds with Rory last week and he sends it, and you feel, how can he not beat me every tournament almost when he's playing from 30 yards ahead.
Yeah, there's definitely that motivational tool in terms of getting stronger and faster. I don't think you should rush it, either. But definitely sort of a long-term thing over the next couple years would be something I'd like to improve on.
Q. Ludvig, the Olympics conversation made me think of something more recent. Last week all 12 players from your team in Rome were in the same place. Was there any discussion about Bethpage or anything like that?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: No. I mean, we didn't necessarily talk. We still have a group chat from Rome in WhatsApp, so we text in that one every now and then. Luke has done a great job of keeping us really close and connected.
I think it's cool to see the European guys coming up strong this year, multiple wins, and obviously Rory has got three wins. I enjoy it, but there's a long time to go, and we'll see how it shapes up.
Q. How much is Bethpage on your mind?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: It's definitely on my mind. I remember when I got picked for Rome and everyone was telling me, once you made one team you don't want to ever miss it, and it's very true. Yeah, I definitely don't want to miss that. I want to be there, and I want to be playing for Team Europe.
It's definitely on my mind, and using it more as motivation to play well this year more than anything, I think.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports