Ludvig Aberg, You Have Our Attention at the TOUR Championship

It feels like we were just welcoming a new PGA TOUR season at Kapalau, but somehow we’re already back at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta for the TOUR Championship. Another campaign is almost in the books.

But for the next four days, we’ll get to enjoy watching the top 30 players in the FedExCup Standings battle for the season-long title and $10,000,000. It’s going to be a blast.

Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, fresh off his fifth win of the season, is undoubtedly the main storyline in the ATL—as he should be. He’s put together another incredible season, and is set to win Player of the Year honors once again—pretty insane when Rory McIlroy finally completed the Career Grand Slam in April.

And while we’ll probably see the Texan hoist the FedExCup trophy and Calamity Jane come Sunday afternoon, I have my eye on someone else less than 24 hours before kickoff—Ludvig Aberg.

TOUR Championship: How to Watch | Picks for East Lake

The Swede was comfortably in the conversation with 18 holes to play at the BMW Championship, but a disappointing final-round 73 around Caves Valley pushed him down into a tie for seventh. Not what he was looking for, but it was another sign that he’s starting to feel his game again.

In four starts since the start of July, he’s tied for eighth at the Scottish Open, for 23rd at The Open, for ninth at the FedEx St. Jude to begin the postseason, and like I mentioned, for seventh in Maryland.

The man with two career TOUR wins is trending, and I think his game fits East Lake to a tee.

In his TOUR Championship debut last season, he shot rounds of 71-68-68-70 to finish solo 16th. He entered the week fifth in the season-long standings, so he fell quite a bit throughout the week, but now that he’s seen the course, I like his chances even more this time around.

East Lake demands a strong showing off the tee, and at both previous playoff events, Aberg was better than field average in driving accuracy. He’s known as one of the straightest big-hitters out here, something he’ll be able to take advantage of over the next four days.

On top of that, he was better than field average with the flat stick in Memphis, and took it a step further at the BMW, ranking seventh in Strokes Gained: Putting at Caves Valley. If that hot putter shows back up in Atlanta, it’s only a matter of time before his name finds the front page of the leaderboard.

Aberg is listed at 18/1 on FanDuel, but as Rick Gehman pointed out in our picks list on Tuesday, he’s 11/1 in the “without Scottie Scheffler” category. Now that’s a play I can get behind.

On top of trying to win for the second time this season, hoisting a couple pieces of hardware on Sunday could cement Aberg’s spot on Team Europe for next month’s Ryder Cup. He’s sitting in the No. 9 spot in the European rankings, so he’s already on Luke Donald’s radar, but a W would all but guarantee a locker in the Englishman’s team room—Aberg went 2-2-0 in his Cup debut two years ago, a record that includes a 9&7 victory over Brooks Koepka and Scheffler.

All that being said, Mr. Aberg, you have my attention at the TOUR Championship.

And if you’re looking for some more picks for East Lake, here’s what Rick Gehman's card looks like.