Razor-sharp Aberg leads at Hilton Head after a 63
HILTON HEAD ISLAND—Ludvig Aberg swapped out some sloppy mistakes at the Masters with pure iron play at Harbour Town in warm, swirling wind that produced an eight-under-par 63 for a one-shot lead Thursday in the RBC Heritage.
Aberg moved ahead of Harris English and Viktor Hovland with an 8-iron to about 15 feet on the back corner of the green on the par-3 17th and made the birdie. He closed with a par, pleasing because he felt that the 8-iron confirmed how well he was swinging the club.
Houston Open champion Gary Woodland, Matt Fitzpatrick and Rickie Fowler were in the group of players at 65.
Masters champion Rory McIlroy skipped this $20 million signature event for the second straight year, having said Harbour Town doesn’t suit him.
Scottie Scheffler, the runner-up last week at Augusta after a 65-68 finish, had a shocking start. His first tee shot was out-of-bounds on the right. He didn’t know out-of-bounds was over there.
“It was looking like it was going to hit those trees and I guess it flew right through them and then hit path and went out-of-bounds,” Scheffler said. “Thumbs up for the start. It was a good bogey.”
That it was, a 12-foot putt to limit the damage, followed by a par save on the next hole and then it was business as usual in the tougher afternoon conditions for a 68.
Aberg had a disappointing week at Augusta National by his standards—a tie for 21st, his first time out of the top 10 in three appearances at the Masters.
“I felt like I was playing well but made some silly mistakes that prevented me from having a real chance,” Aberg said. “But I also felt like in the grand scheme of things, I was swinging it nice, I was moving it nice, so I didn’t have to prepare that much in terms of my golf swing on Monday through Wednesday and I felt like good golf was in there.”
The challenge for Aberg and the other 52 players who were in the Masters was to stay sharp inside the ropes on an island that makes this tournament feel like a working vacation.
Hovland is feeling less stressed more because of his swing, instead of the week at the Masters when he made a big run up the leaderboard on Sunday, only to catch the wrong gust at the wrong time that led to a double bogey on the 15th hole. He still shot 67.
Hovland doesn’t feel he’s all the way back with his swing, but found enough signs of progress after shooting a bogey-free 64.
