A Masters rookie hasn’t received in near 50 years, however Wyndham Clark (proper) and Ludvig Aberg (left) may very well be in line to alter that.
Getty Images
AUGUSTA, Ga. — It’s onerous being the new man.
At the Masters, Ludvig Aberg is aware of. He’s new. Brand-new. Not solely to Augusta National, the place he’ll play this week in his first-ever Masters — but additionally to all of main championship golf.
It’s simple to overlook that Aberg’s profession variety of main begins is zero. Most gamers of his caliber have main championship peach fuzz by the time they’ve reached their early 20s, normally by means of beginner championship victories or particular exemptions. Aberg is just not one in all them. He performed valiantly as an all-world teen at Texas Tech, a participant gifted and embellished sufficient to earn an invite onto the PGA Tour straight out of college. He contended repeatedly and even received as a Tour rookie, then starred in the Ryder Cup in Rome as a very fearsome piece of a dominating European aspect. Now he’s the ninth-ranked participant in the world and simply one in all professional golf’s most gifted younger’uns — gifted sufficient to earn a Masters pre-tournament press convention earlier than ever enjoying a match spherical.
That resume doesn’t equate to zero main championship begins. But that’s the place Aberg finds himself on Tuesday afternoon in Augusta — a Masters rookie on the brink of his first-ever main begin.
Wyndham Clark is aware of the feeling. He wouldn’t have believed you when you’d informed the reigning U.S. Open champ he’d win a serious championship earlier than he earned a begin at Augusta. But the {hardware} on his mantel and the glimmer in his eyes Tuesday point out in any other case.
Until about 11 months in the past, Clark wasn’t on anyone’s professional golf radar. But then he broke by means of at the Wells Fargo for his first professional win, after which once more, a month later, at the U.S. Open. And then once more, eight months later, at Pebble Beach. Now, he’s getting into the Masters as the fourth-ranked participant in the world — and a Masters rookie on the brink of his first-ever begin.
It would be a stretch to name these two golfers sleepers, what with their prodigious potential and historical past of match success. Vegas, which has each golfers amongst the match favorites, agrees. But there’s a small little bit of historical past working towards them: Not since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 has a participant arrived at the Masters a rookie and exited a champion.
But amongst the flood of press conferences on Tuesday at Augusta National, there was the prevailing sense that these two rookies could be completely different from the relaxation.
The distinction, it appears, begins on the mobile degree. Both Clark and Aberg are prolific ball strikers, the sort who can overpower a golf course with the sheer power of their {golfing} may. On Tuesday at the Masters, each golfers smothered the vary with blistering drives that carried on tight fades, flushed irons that hit small targets, and hit crisp chips that scared pin placements.
But on a morning when Tiger Woods spoke at size about the expertise and headiness wanted to outlive at Augusta National — and about how that have advantages these enjoying in the occasion properly into their 40s — it additionally turned clear that each Clark and Aberg possess one thing deeper than athletic potential. Every Masters rookie has a driver they will hit far and straight, however not all of them have the psychological make-up to do it for 72 holes beneath immense stress. These two Masters rookies do — and that’s what units them aside.
“I think there’s a difference between people who can win consistently on the PGA Tour and majors and maybe someone who wins every once in a while,” Clark mentioned Tuesday. “I think if you win once every blue moon, I think that’s just a great week and you really had everything clicking that week. But I think to win multiple times and in major, I think that there is a little bit of a mental shift. I’m not saying I know what that shift is, but I know I worked really hard in the mental game. And so when I found myself leading the U.S. Open and then winning a U.S. Open, it felt like a regular event. I think maybe that’s the shift, I think that’s what needs to be done.”
Aberg agreed.
“I’m trying to embrace it,” he mentioned. “I’m not making an attempt to push it away. I’m not making an attempt to battle it. I believe that’s one in all the key issues.
“It’s also just golf, and it’s just me and my 14 clubs.”
This perspective is what endeared Aberg to his present caddie, the veteran looper Joe Skovron, who jumped from Rickie Fowler’s bag to Tom Kim’s, after which jumped from Kim’s to Aberg’s.
“He’s just so mentally mature,” Skovron informed me not too long ago. “He’s got a good perspective when something goes wrong. He can deal with it and move on. His ability level is super high, and yet he just wants to keep getting better.”
Aberg says he’ll be leaning on Skovron’s recommendation this week to assist him navigate the extra nuanced difficulties of Augusta National — and he’ll must. The Masters is a brute of a match for the most skilled gamers. For these with out expertise, it may be simple to get out of place.
“This golf course gets you to chase things a little more than other golf courses,” Rory McIlroy mentioned Tuesday. “If you make a bogey or if you get yourself out of position, it always tempts you to do something you think you can do.”
The temptation of Augusta National is a frequent explanation for youthful ejection. But so is the stress. The Masters is golf’s Super Bowl, as even the hilariously underwhelmed Aberg admitted on Tuesday. There’s no figuring out the way you reply till you need to.
But maybe it helps that these guys simply don’t know but. There’s callous in youth, but additionally confidence.
“My first four or five years on the PGA Tour I learned all the ways how not to win and how not to handle myself in pressure moments,” Clark mentioned. “As I’ve now found myself in more of those moments, I feel so much more relaxed. My thoughts are slower. I’m taking everything as it comes.”
Of course, it’s simple to talk confidently from the consolation of a Tuesday presser — and just a little tougher from beneath the gun in the shadows of Amen Corner late on Sunday afternoon. How will Aberg and Clark reply, ought to the chips fall in a historic means for both of them?
Their solutions Tuesday have been revealing.
“I mean, stats like that are meant to be broken,” Clark mentioned defiantly when requested about the rookie winless streak.
Aberg was even much less impressed.
“I honestly didn’t know that stat up until just now,” he mentioned with amusing.
Source link
