Europe captain Luke Donald hailed Ludvig Aberg as a “generational” talent after handing him a wild card and backing a team with four “fearless” rookies to regain the Ryder Cup.
Former world number one amateur Aberg only turned professional in June, but won the final qualifying event in Switzerland on Sunday with a final round of 64 at Crans-sur-Sierre.
The 23-year-old Swede has made the quickest transition from the amateur ranks to the Ryder Cup in the contest’s history, eclipsing the previous record set by Sergio Garcia, who made his debut in 1999 after turning professional following April’s Masters.
Aberg was selected along with Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka, Shane Lowry, Justin Rose and Nicolai Hojgaard, with Poland’s Adrian Meronk arguably the most unfortunate to miss out after winning the Italian Open at the host venue in May.
The six wild cards join automatic qualifiers Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton and Robert MacIntyre in Donald’s team, which will attempt to regain the trophy at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club following a record 19-9 thrashing two years ago.
Speaking about Aberg, Donald said: “We obviously knew what he was doing in the college scene. You look at what he did in those four years and the only comparables really were Viktor Hovland and Jon Rahm. He is that good.
“I played with him in Detroit and was blown away by his game. He was a cool nine under through 16 holes like it was nothing. He was calm, collected, he made everything look very simple and he hits a lot of quality shots.
“I haven’t played a lot with Jon Rahm, I got to watch Viktor for three matches at Whistling Straits and was really impressed with his ball-striking. When Rory was breaking out I thought ‘this kid is special’ and Ludvig fits in that.
“He continued to impress and I challenged him to come over to Europe and play a couple (of events).
“He was fifth (tied fourth) in the Czech Masters and you know what he did yesterday. It was like a walk in the park for him and for someone that is so inexperienced, it was just so, so impressive.
“I really do have a lot of faith and belief in Ludvig. He is a generational player, he’s going to be around a long time and he’s going to do amazing things.
“If he wasn’t going to play this one he was going to play the next eight Ryder Cups, that’s how good I think he is.
“He proved it on Sunday, he’s a cool customer too. The statistics show he would be the number one driver this year, ahead of Rory and Scottie Scheffler.
“I am happy to have four rookies on the team. In 2004 I was one of five and we did just fine. These young kids are ready and fearless.”
Aberg said: “Thinking about getting that call from Luke gives me goosebumps. These are the events you want to be a part of.
“You want to have that shot or putt to win a match. I’ve been fortunate to be part of team events before, although I understand this is at a different level. But I am up for the challenge.”
Rose, who will make his sixth Ryder Cup appearance in Rome, conceded initial thoughts of picking Aberg had sounded “incredibly premature”, but added: “He has absolutely backed it up.
“I was aware of this European stud turning pro and he’s one of the players who has a very-impressive game to the point where, in the evening if you haven’t watched any coverage, you go to his Shot Tracker and you go ‘Oh my God’, he hit it 340 yards down the middle of that fairway.
“He has a couple of weapons that are not necessarily at everyone’s disposal.”
Away from Aberg, Donald praised Straka for travelling from Maui to Abu Dhabi to take part in January’s inaugural Hero Cup, where Hojgaard – who is another winner at Marco Simone – went unbeaten as a late replacement for his injured twin brother Rasmus.
And the former world number one insisted he had no concerns over the form of 2019 Open champion Lowry, who has not recorded a top 10 finish in 2023.
“He’s a big-time player, he steps up in the moments,” Donald said. “We have two important weeks for him in Ireland and Wentworth and it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s up there having a good chance in those events.”
Asked if Meronk was unfortunate to miss out, Donald added: “Adrian was very much on my mind. There were a number of players that you could make a good argument to be on that team that aren’t. Those are difficult decisions.
“I’ve been in that position myself, I know what it feels like and it’s gut-wrenching. I spoke to them all and it’s never easy but they handled it with class.”
McIlroy revels in 'awesome' 25th PGA Tour title alongside Lowry
Rory McIlroy said his 25th PGA Tour title was made all the more special by the fact it came alongside Shane Lowry after the Irish duo won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in a play-off on Sunday.
Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer were among the early starters in Avondale and set a target of 25 under by carding a nine-under 63 in the fourth round.
It went down to the wire as McIlroy and Lowry birdied the final hole to set up a play-off, which they won by making par after Trainer missed his par putt.
The victory took McIlroy to a quarter of a century on the PGA Tour, and he said lifting the trophy alongside a close friend made it one of his most memorable.
The world number two said: "To win any PGA Tour event is very cool, but to do it with one of your closest friends…
"Think about where we met and where we've come from, to be on this stage and do this together, it was just awesome to be able to do it alongside this guy."
Former Open champion Lowry, who now has three PGA titles to his name, added: "Rory brings a crowd, and people love him.
"We've got a lot of love this week in New Orleans, we've had just the best week. We went out there, we had loads of fun, and we won the tournament. You couldn't ask for a better week."
A closer look at the hot streak of world number one Scottie Scheffler
Scottie Scheffler claimed his fourth win in five events on Monday when the weather-delayed RBC Heritage concluded at Hilton Head.
That run includes a second Masters title and has seen the world number one extend his sizeable lead over Rory McIlroy at the top of the rankings.
Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the facts and figures around Scheffler’s streak and how they compare to previous runs.
What makes Scheffler’s streak so impressive?Winning any event on the PGA Tour is difficult, but Scheffler has claimed two of the biggest in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship, a major championship at Augusta National and the RBC Heritage, which boasted a stronger than usual field after being elevated to a Signature Event this season. Victory at Sawgrass made Scheffler the first player ever to win back-to-back Players titles. His only “failure” was a tie for second in the Houston Open.
Has this been done before?Scheffler is the first player to win four times in five starts on the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods, who did so at the end of 2007 and again to start 2008. He is also the third player in the last 30 years – after Woods and Vijay Singh (2004) – to win or finish runner-up in five consecutive starts on the PGA Tour. With many players taking a break after winning a major, Scheffler is also the first to win a PGA Tour event the week after claiming a green jacket since Bernhard Langer in 1985.
How much has Scheffler earned?Scheffler has banked an average of £3.17million for each of his four victories and “only” £448,000 for his five-way tie for second behind Stephan Jaeger in the Houston Open. The total sum of £13.14m would place Scheffler 145th on the PGA Tour’s career earnings list and he is closing in on the single-season record of £17million he set last year. In comparison, Woods won nine times on the PGA Tour in 2000, including three major titles, and never finished worse than 23rd in 20 starts. His prize money totalled £7.4m.
Does the world ranking reflect Scheffler’s dominance?In a word, yes. Ahead of the Genesis Invitational in mid-February, Rory McIlroy could have become world number one by winning at Riviera with Scheffler finishing third or worse. Now, Scheffler has more than double the total and average points of McIlroy, while the average points gap between the top two (7.6493) is bigger than that between McIlroy and the players tied for 4,123st in the standings.
So is Scheffler the most dominant player in world golf?Not quite. Hours before Scheffler completed his victory in Hilton Head, fellow American Nelly Korda had wrapped up a fifth consecutive win on the LPGA Tour by claiming her second major title in the Chevron Championship. Korda’s winning streak matches that of Nancy Lopez in 1978 and Annika Sorenstam in 2004-05, although her bid for an unprecedented sixth straight win will have to wait after she cited exhaustion when pulling out of this week’s event in Los Angeles. While Scheffler has earned £13.14m from his last five events, Korda’s five wins have been worth £1.94m.
Scottie Scheffler matches Tiger Woods achievement with fourth win in five
Masters champion Scottie Scheffler hailed his mental strength after making it four wins in five starts with a rain-delayed victory at the RBC Heritage.
Scheffler returned to Hilton Head on Monday morning holding a five-stroke lead with three holes to play after a storm halted proceedings on Sunday.
The world number one dropped a shot at the last to finish 19 under par, three shots ahead of fellow American Sahith Theegala, with Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark another stroke back.
Scheffler is the first player to win a PGA Tour event the week after claiming the Green Jacket since Bernhard Langer in 1985 and the first to win four times in five starts on the US-based circuit since Tiger Woods in 2007-08.
Each of Scheffler’s last seven wins have come with at least eight of the world’s top 10 in the field and he is the third player in the last 30 years – after Woods and Vijay Singh – to win or finish runner-up in five consecutive starts on the PGA Tour.
“I was able to go home for a couple days and celebrate,” Scheffler said.
“I didn’t really put much thought into it. I had committed to playing the tournament here, it was part of the plan, so we stuck to the plan.
“I talked about it at the beginning of the week – I didn’t show up here just to have some sort of ceremony and have people tell me congratulations. I came here with a purpose, got off to a slow start but after that played some really nice golf.
“I do have fairly high expectations for myself and when I show up at tournaments, I try to do my best.
“I’ve talked a lot about kind of the preparation and what it takes for me to show up on a first tee ready to go, and I feel like I’ve been putting in the work and been playing some good golf, and it’s nice to be seeing some results for that with wins.
“On the course, I think the last month or so I’ve been as good mentally as I have in a long time and I think that’s why I am seeing some of the results.
“This week could be a good example of starting off and looking at the leaderboard on Thursday and everybody is just making birdie after birdie and I’m sitting there over par and I’ve had a shank on the day.
“I just did my best to stay patient and wait until I got hot.
“Had a nice finish to the round on Thursday and then had a really solid Friday where I felt like I played better than I scored, and then I had Saturday where I just played some really good golf.”
Rory McIlroy carded a final-round 74 to slip into a tie for 33rd.
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