Ludvig Åberg’s Crowning Moment Crumbles Sunday at the Players Championship

The laid-back, ultra-talented Swede led by two shots with eight holes to play but two water balls turned the tide quickly, Bob Harig writes.

Ludvig Åberg came up short Sunday at TPC Sawgrass despite a three-shot lead at the start of the final round. | Jeff Romance-Imagn Images

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — By the time he faced the daunting tee shot on the 18th hole at TPC Sawgrass, the celebration was already all but underway. And Ludvig Åberg knew he would not be part of it.

Getting the ball in play, of course, was still the goal, but the unrelenting nerves he expected to feel when he woke up with a three-shot lead heading into the final round of the Players Championship were gone.

In a matter of moments earlier on the back nine, the lead he held for most of Saturday and the first 10 holes on Sunday was gone. He went from ahead to behind faster than it took to retrieve not one but two golf balls from his bag.

Soon, it was Cam Young holding the trophy after a birdie at the 17th and a 375-yard drive at the 18th to hold off Matt Fitzpatrick while Åberg, seemingly immune to the pressure, was fighting for the relative Players Championship scraps.

MORE: Final results, payouts from the Players Championship

“You’re always going to feel nerves,” Åberg said after a final-round 76 saw him finish four strokes back of Young. “Definitely felt nerves this morning, I felt nerves yesterday and I felt nerves on Thursday and Friday as well.

“I think the main thing for me is I think about winning, but I try not to get ahead of myself when I’m playing golf. I think the front nine we handled quite well. I felt like we handled it to the point where it definitely could have been few shots better here and there. It was just a disappointing back nine, and hopefully I’ll do a little bit better next time.”

Earlier in the day, before Åberg ever teed off, Rory McIlroy was talking about how “unflappable” he believed the Swedish golfer had proven himself to be in his young career.

He saw it at the Ryder Cup in Rome, where Åberg had a successful experience before ever teeing it up in a major championship. He saw it when Åberg finished second to Scottie Scheffler in his first Masters in 2024.

Ludvig Aberg finished an impressive second as a Masters rookie in 2024. | Michael Madrid-Imagn Images

And the world saw how his understated mannerisms suggested a calm demeanor and such a comfortable golf swing. Åberg shot 63 on Friday and appeared so in control. Even with a three-putt bogey on the final green Saturday, he led by three over Michael Thorbjornsen, who had yet to win.

“He’s so laid-back, like, ridiculously laid-back, which is a really good thing, especially in environments like the Ryder Cup,” McIlroy said of Åberg. “His pace of play. Once he gets over the ball he’s really decisive. He’s obviously got a beautiful swing. Looks like he plays with a lot of freedom.”

Åberg, who won the Genesis Invitational last year for his second PGA Tour victory (he also has one on the DP World Tour), missed the cut by nine strokes in January at the Farmers Insurance Open. Since then, he’s shown gradual improvement, including a tie for third last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

“It’s all about executing,” he had said Saturday. “You’re going to get punished if you don’t, which is a fun way to play golf.”

It wasn’t so fun Sunday. Åberg played the first nine holes in even par and watched Thorbjornsen make a mess of the 4th hole to give himself some breathing room.

He led by two shots over a surging Fitzpatrick when he got to the par-5 11th, a hole he had played in 4 under for the tournament including an eagle on Saturday. After a good drive into the fairway, Åberg saw his tournament unravel with a 7-wood from 233 yards that flared right and didn’t come close to clearing water.

The resulting bogey coupled with Fitzpatrick’s birdie on the 12th saw them tied.

And then came the short par-4 12th where Åberg missed left into the water.

Water ball for Ludvig Åberg on 12.

Now co-leading with Fitzpatrick, this is the first time he hasn't led since Friday.

📺 NBC pic.twitter.com/9WteatEmtz

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 15, 2026

“It got away from me quick there,” he said. “It was just poor swings. I felt like I’ve had that sort of 7-wood right miss a few times this week, on No. 4 especially twice, and it came up on 11 as well.

“Then tried to press a little bit on 12, hitting driver, where sometimes you can play 3-wood a little short of that bunker. Obviously really disappointed. I would have loved to be standing where Cameron is standing right now. But overall I still felt like I saw some nice things in my game.”

Young, who has had his share of disappointments in the game before finally winning his first tournament last year at the Wyndham Championship and a strong U.S. Ryder Cup appearance, came through when it mattered.

He flushed a sand wedge to 10 feet at the par-3 17th hole and cozied in the putt tie for the lead. Then he blasted that 375-yard drive at the 18th—where Fitzpatrick missed the fairway—to set up his winning par.

“It’s absolutely exhausting,” Young said. “It’s incredibly taxing. You’re going to make mistakes. It’s a great test. A test of will. A test of patience. And a test of hitting some good shots.”

Young passed. Åberg, on this day, struggled.

“It’s just another experience for a young guy,” said Åberg’s caddie, Joe Skovron, who caddied for Rickie Fowler when he won the 2015 Players Championship. “You learn from it and apply it the next time. From where he was a few weeks ago to now is excitement. You gotta turn these things into positives. Otherwise it’s just going to eat you up out here.”

That’s been a good bit of that mashing since the Tour came to Florida a few weeks ago.

Shane Lowry squandered a three-shot lead with three holes to play at the Cognizant Classic. Daniel Berger led by five strokes with nine to play and by two with three to play last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Åberg led by three to begin the day and by two with eight holes to play. And even Fitzpatrick still had a one-shot advantage with two to play.

Such leads and feeling of security are fleeting, as Åberg will attest.

“I definitely felt a little bit fast at times,” he said. “I would imagine if I look at those swings on sort of 11, 12, they probably were quick swings. Takeaway got really fast and then the rest of it kind of spirals from there. That's something that I should have been aware of, now looking back. But yeah, that's the way it goes.”