Rory McIlroy feels the heat as PGA Tour ace makes two-word claim about US Open star
Rory McIlroy and his fellow competitors have been put on notice as Ludvig Aberg takes the lead at the US Open
Rory McIlroy and his fellow competitors have been put on notice as Ludvig Aberg takes the lead at the US Open. Just a year after turning pro, Aberg held a one-shot lead halfway through his US Open debut, which is only the third major championship of his career.
Adding a 69 to his opening 66 at Pinehurst, Aberg finished five under par, one shot ahead of Belgium's Thomas Detry and Americans Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Cantlay, who McIlroy has made brutal comments about. McIlroy, Tony Finau and Matthieu Pavon were two shots behind the leader on three under.
The last player to win the US Open on their tournament debut was amateur Francis Ouimet in 1913, but it wouldn't be a shock if Aberg repeated that feat given his impressive start to his professional career. The Swede turned pro in June 2023 and quickly won on the DP World Tour.
He played a key role in Europe regaining the Ryder Cup in Rome, including a record 9and7 win with Viktor Hovland over Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka. Aberg also tasted victory on the PGA Tour before the end of the season.
Such performances earned the 24-year-old a major debut at the Masters where he pushed Scheffler all the way in April before the world number one pulled away to claim a second green jacket at Augusta National.
Finau, who shared the course with him for the first two rounds at Pinehurst, couldn't hold back his admiration for the 24-year-old, calling him "a machine" and hinting that he, McIlroy, and others might struggle to prevent him from making history.
After the second round, Finau remarked: "It's the first time I've ever played with him. The guy is like a machine."
Ludvig Aberg downplayed the challenge, saying: "I think a US Open is supposed to be hard. It's supposed to be tricky and it's supposed to challenge any aspect of your game and I feel like it's really doing that."
He added optimistically: "But I'm super fortunate with the way that things have turned out over the last couple days and hopefully we'll be able to keep it up."
Scheffler managed to make the halfway cut right on the line at five over par after carding a second-round 74, while former Open champion Francesco Molinari made the cut in spectacular style with an ace on the ninth, which was his final hole of the day.