A Masters rookie hasn’t received in near 50 years, however Wyndham Clark (proper) and Ludvig Aberg (left) could possibly be in line to alter that.
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AUGUSTA, Ga. — It’s laborious being the brand new man.
On the Masters, Ludvig Aberg is aware of. He’s new. Model-new. Not solely to Augusta Nationwide, the place he’ll play this week in his first-ever Masters — but additionally to all of main championship golf.
It’s simple to neglect that Aberg’s profession variety of main begins is zero. Most gamers of his caliber have main championship peach fuzz by the point they’ve reached their early 20s, often by the use of beginner championship victories or particular exemptions. Aberg will not be one in all them. He performed valiantly as an all-world teenager at Texas Tech, a participant proficient 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 within the Ryder Cup in Rome as a very fearsome piece of a dominating European aspect. Now he’s the ninth-ranked participant on the planet and simply one in all professional golf’s most gifted younger’uns — proficient sufficient to earn a Masters pre-tournament press convention earlier than ever taking part in a event spherical.
That resume doesn’t equate to zero main championship begins. However that’s the place Aberg finds himself on Tuesday afternoon in Augusta — a Masters rookie getting ready to his first-ever main begin.
Wyndham Clark is aware of the sensation. He wouldn’t have believed you in the event you’d informed the reigning U.S. Open champ he’d win a serious championship earlier than he earned a begin at Augusta. However the {hardware} on his mantel and the glimmer in his eyes Tuesday point out in any other case.
Till about 11 months in the past, Clark wasn’t on anyone’s professional golf radar. However then he broke via on the Wells Fargo for his first professional win, after which once more, a month later, on the U.S. Open. After which once more, eight months later, at Pebble Seashore. Now, he’s getting into the Masters because the fourth-ranked participant on the planet — and a Masters rookie getting ready to his first-ever begin.
It could be a stretch to name these two golfers sleepers, what with their prodigious skill and historical past of event success. Vegas, which has each golfers among the many event favorites, agrees. However there’s a small little bit of historical past working in opposition to them: Not since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 has a participant arrived on the Masters a rookie and exited a champion.
However among the many flood of press conferences on Tuesday at Augusta Nationwide, there was the prevailing sense that these two rookies may be completely different from the remainder.
The distinction, it appears, begins on the mobile degree. Each Clark and Aberg are prolific ball strikers, the sort who can overpower a golf course with the sheer pressure of their {golfing} would possibly. On Tuesday on 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.
However on a morning when Tiger Woods spoke at size in regards to the expertise and headiness wanted to outlive at Augusta Nationwide — and about how that have advantages these taking part in within the occasion nicely into their 40s — it additionally turned clear that each Clark and Aberg possess one thing deeper than athletic skill. Each Masters rookie has a driver they’ll hit far and straight, however not all of them have the psychological make-up to do it for 72 holes underneath immense strain. These two Masters rookies do — and that’s what units them aside.
“I believe there’s a distinction between individuals who can win persistently on the PGA Tour and majors and perhaps somebody who wins each from time to time,” Clark stated Tuesday. “I believe in the event you win as soon as each blue moon, I believe that’s only a nice week and you actually had all the things clicking that week. However I believe to win a number of occasions and in main, I believe that there’s a little little bit of a psychological shift. I’m not saying I do know what that shift is, however I do know I labored actually laborious within the psychological recreation. And so when I discovered myself main the U.S. Open after which successful a U.S. Open, it felt like an everyday occasion. I believe perhaps that’s the shift, I believe that’s what must be finished.”
Aberg agreed.
“I’m making an attempt to embrace it,” he stated. “I’m not making an attempt to push it away. I’m not making an attempt to struggle it. I believe that’s one of many key issues.
“It’s additionally simply golf, and it’s simply me and my 14 golf equipment.”
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 simply so mentally mature,” Skovron informed me not too long ago. “He’s obtained perspective when one thing goes incorrect. He can take care of it and transfer on. His skill degree is tremendous excessive, and but he simply desires to maintain getting higher.”
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Aberg says he’ll be leaning on Skovron’s recommendation this week to assist him navigate the extra nuanced difficulties of Augusta Nationwide — and he’ll have to. The Masters is a brute of a event for essentially the most skilled gamers. For these with out expertise, it may be simple to get misplaced.
“This golf course will get you to chase issues a little bit greater than different golf programs,” Rory McIlroy stated Tuesday. “In case you make a bogey or in the event you get your self out of place, it at all times tempts you to do one thing you suppose you are able to do.”
The temptation of Augusta Nationwide is a frequent reason behind youthful ejection. However so is the strain. The Masters is golf’s Tremendous Bowl, as even the hilariously underwhelmed Aberg admitted on Tuesday. There’s no realizing the way you reply till you need to.
However maybe it helps that these guys simply don’t know but. There’s callous in youth, but additionally confidence.
“My first 4 or 5 years on the PGA Tour I discovered all of the methods how to not win and the way to not deal with myself in strain moments,” Clark stated. “As I’ve now discovered myself in additional of these moments, I really feel a lot extra relaxed. My ideas are slower. I’m taking all the things because it comes.”
After all, it’s simple to talk confidently from the consolation of a Tuesday presser — and a little bit more durable from underneath the gun within the shadows of Amen Nook late on Sunday afternoon. How will Aberg and Clark reply, ought to the chips fall in a historic method for both of them?
Their solutions Tuesday had been revealing.
“I imply, stats like that are supposed to be damaged,” Clark stated defiantly when requested in regards to the rookie winless streak.
Aberg was even much less impressed.
“I actually didn’t know that stat up till simply now,” he stated with amusing.
