ADOPTED TEXAN ÅBERG POISED TO SHINE

The quick-swinging Ludvig Åberg looks earmarked for great things on the PGA TOUR.

- JIM McCABE

As we introduce the worlds of Scottie Scheffler and Ludvig Åberg and look back to the latter part of 2021, it's remarkable how quickly the landscape changes at the elite level of professional men's golf.

At the time, Scheffler was a 25-year-old born-and-bred Texan who had completed his first two seasons on the PGA TOUR. While he had enjoyed success and recorded several Top 10s, the headline writers weren't yet being called into to sing his praises.

But for that other Texas golfer - and we're taking literary license, of course, because the native of Eslov, Sweden, did play at Texas Tech - the buzz was palpable. Just 22 years old, Åberg already had won five collegiate tournaments and was in many circles considered the top amateur in the world.

In a state where junior golf prodigies are the rule, not the exception, and where future World Golf Hall of Famers are not uncommon, Åberg was definitely on the radar in the fall of '21. No matter that the quiet young man had committed to completing four years in college and wouldn't go on to graduate until the spring of 2023, he was touted as a generational talent.