As Ludvig Aberg walked up TPC Sawgrass’ 18th fairway on Saturday evening, he scanned a leaderboard and turned to his caddie, Joe Skovron. Up ahead, a final-hole double bogey from Cameron Young had shuffled things around; suddenly there was a new name in second place.
“Looks like we’re playing with Michael tomorrow, which will be fun,” Aberg told Skovron.
That “Michael” is Michael Thorbjornsen, who begins Sunday’s final round at the Players Championship at 10 under par. That’ll put him three strokes off the pace of his playing partner Ludvig Aberg. They’ll go off at 1:40 p.m. local time, the final twosome of the championship. You don’t have to work too hard to find connections between the two. At 26 (Aberg) and 24 (Thorbjornsen), they’re among the Tour’s youngest, brightest stars. They’re also among the tallest, most athletic, hardest-hitting — and most low-key. They both wear Adidas, too. But it’s a particularly interesting pair for two reasons — their past and their present.
Let’s start at the beginning: these two go way back.
“We’ve gone way back to junior golf. We’ve played a lot of college golf together,” Thorbjornsen said after his third round. “I love playing golf with him. He was one of the guys in college that I looked up to, even though he’s only one year older than me.”
In 2023, Aberg, who went to Texas Tech, was the first-ever winner of the PGA Tour University. In 2024, Thorbjornsen, who went to Stanford, became the second.
“At some point when we were both in college it felt like we played every single tournament together,” Aberg said.
Now they’ll add a post-college tournament chapter. But they’ve already played plenty post-college, because they’re practically neighbors. Both Aberg and Thorbjornsen live in this part of north Florida and play TPC Sawgrass with regularity, sometimes together — either at this week’s Stadium Course or the adjacent Dye’s Valley.
“I’m not sure how many people know that I live here,” Thorbjornsen said, pushing back against the idea that he, a native New Englander, would have a local following. “I still play out of Wellesley, Massachusetts, when they announce my name, but I live 15, 20 minutes north from here.”
Aberg, who’s from Sweden, was slightly more bought in to the local-guy narrative.
“In the U.S., this is where I live. This is where I spend all my time when I’m here, when I’m home. So yeah, I spend a lot of time out at TPC practicing, just on a normal Tuesday when I’m home.” Mostly, winning on Sunday would be a big deal because it’s the Players Championship. But it would mean a little something extra because it’s home.”
Both players rave about the event; based on how they’ve played this week, the feeling is mutual.
“Even before I moved here, when I played the event I absolutely loved it,” Aberg said.
“It’s also cool just to play holes 16, 17, 18 — just look at these iconic holes,” Thorbjornsen said. “The whole course is unbelievable.”
There’s subtext to their choice of residence, which represents a shift in the evolving geography of professional golf. An entire generation of pros had been pulled in the direction of Jupiter, Fla., following in the footsteps of Tiger Woods. Other secondary sites have emerged — Scottsdale, Ariz.; Sea Island, Ga.; Dallas, Tx.; among others — but Jupiter is at the center. It’s interesting, then, that two top young pros have settled some five hours up the coast. It’s not random. This is where the PGA Tour is based and it’s home to TPC Sawgrass, whose facilities are fantastic and have only gotten better. They’re also hardly the first; pros from Vijay Singh to Jim Furyk to Fred Funk to Cameron Smith have called this area home. But it is notable that in recent years more and more young pros have gravitated to the area, these two chief among them.
“This course right here,” Thorbjornsen said, explaining his why. “PGA Tour headquarters just off site too, definitely helps out. I know a lot of younger guys coming out of college are kind of moving into the area. So, yeah, it’s a pretty good spot.”
As for Aberg?
“I just liked it. The first time I was here I played a Junior Players in 2018, 2017, and I remember saying then that this is a really nice place, and I knew the golf was really good,” he said. “I enjoy the little bit of seasonal change, not necessarily 85 degrees all year round as it is in South Florida. Then I naturally knew a lot of people here even before I moved. Yeah, at the end of the day, it was a pretty easy decision.”
No matter the stakes of practice rounds or money matches, there’s no way they will have been able to replicate Sunday final-round pressure in front of a sellout crowd. But they’ll at least know their way around the locker room — and around their playing partner.
Aberg has had greater professional success thus far. He’s contended in majors and won Ryder Cups. Thorbjornsen, on the other hand, is hunting his first Tour victory. This would be a good place to start. And the player beside him will know he’s not to be taken lightly.
“He’s a great guy, good player, and he’ll be coming out excited tomorrow to play,” Aberg said. “He’ll be coming out hot and I’m going to have to respond and play some good golf.”
