ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL

March 5, 2026

Ludvig Aberg

Bay Hill Club and Lodge

Quick Quotes

Q. That score stands out just given how tough it was for the afternoon for everybody and yet you post a pretty good one. How did you do it?

LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, it was definitely a good day. I felt like I was rolling it nicely on the greens. I was hitting the fairways, which obviously helps. Yeah, felt like I was not trying to be overly aggressive. I wasn't trying to be overly conservative either, but it was tricky with the crosswind and kind of going back and forth. Overall really pleased with the score.

Q. What were some of your better birdies, in your opinion?

LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, obviously anywhere on the front nine. I think 7 was a great birdie. I think 12 stands out to me a little bit today.

Q. Par-5.

LUDVIG ABERG: Par-5. I bogeyed 10 and 11. Not ideal, but also knowing that bogeys might happen at Bay Hill when it's tricky. Then to go back and make a 3 on 12 was nice.

Q. I didn't realize you made a 3, sorry. What did you see, playing late, when you see 63 posted at some point during your round, how did that register with you?

LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, I mean, obviously 63 today is quite unbelievable, in my opinion. Whether it's soft greens or not and whether it's no wind or not, 63 at Bay Hill is really good. But, yeah, I don't think it really changes anything for me. I feel like me and Nico got off to a nice start both of us and we were playing some nice golf and good putts. I was able to sort of hold that on on the back nine when it got a little tricky.

Q. I think Xander said this is the kind of a course where you could really shoot yourself out of it on the first day. Just the nature of it.

LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, I think so. I think if you go out with a mindset of trying to shoot 63 you can shoot 77 pretty quickly. So it's almost like today you're just trying to hit the right shots, trying to hit the right putts and if they go in -- like for me on 18 today, where I tried to hit the right shot on the right side, and if you make a 20-footer, great. If not you're just walk ago way with a 4.

Q. What do you credit the struggles to on the West Coast?

LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, I felt like I saw parts of my game that were pretty good. I saw one day my putting was nice, one day my short game was nice, one day my irons were good, one day my driver was good. I just didn't quite have that consistency I felt like in what I was doing. I sort of saw some nice things over the weekend at Pebble. Felt like I saw some nice things I got off to a bad start at Riviera, but kind of saw some nice things going forward. I sort of felt like it's in there somewhere, I just got to get it all kind of out at the same time. I felt like I did that well today.

Q. Can you pinpoint a turning point?

LUDVIG ABERG: Not really. Not really. I would like to consider myself as a process-oriented guy in terms of my practice and my training. Yeah, we're always trying to work on things, we're always trying to improve on our tendencies, which I have a little bit of less rotate and I get a little kind of behind it like that. So for me just to kind of reiterate that and work on that has definitely helped.

Q. You said that you spent the off-season working on your putting a bit more. Is there something that clicked out there today or what the process was for that?

LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, we've kind of gone back and forth between a couple of different putters. Played around, I actually went back to my old gamer that I had last fall, sort of Ryder Cup, Abu Dhabi, Dubai. I was playing the first couple tournaments with a putter with a little bit less loft. Which I felt it came out a little bit too hot, so I went back with this one, my old one. And, yeah, maybe just a familiarity with it. Speed control was a lot better I felt like. Yeah, I was able to roll in some nice putts today.

Q. What was your second shot on 12? What did you hit?

LUDVIG ABERG: I hit a little 5-iron to sort of middle right.

Q. What was the wind doing?

LUDVIG ABERG: It was swirling around the time. It was down off your left, I think. Yeah.

Q. What model putter are you using and why did you take it out of the bag?

LUDVIG ABERG: Well I was using an Odyssey, I've always been using an Odyssey. And I went with basically the same putter head, just same insert, just less loft. With the idea that they're kind of coming out a little bit nicer, but it just came out like a rocket ship. So I felt like at Riviera and at Pebble, if I closed my eyes and I hit it, it was going to go six feet past. So I didn't love that for the speed control. And now I kind of went back with a little bit more loft, which just makes it come out a little bit more with what I'm used to.