Ludvig Åberg had the golf world buzzing after his incredible start at the Farmers Insurance Open. He opened with a jaw-dropping nine-under-par 63, lighting up Torrey Pines with eight birdies, an eagle, and just a single bogey—his best opening round ever. At that point, it really felt like he was on the verge of snagging his second PGA Tour win, following his epic victory at the 2023 RSM Classic.

But by the time the tournament wrapped up, things had taken a drastic turn. Åberg, who looked unstoppable in round one, finished tied for 42nd. Yes, that’s a major drop for a person who was doing so phenomenal initially. So, what happened? Did he lose momentum? Yes. Did he struggle in the later rounds? Absolutely. But the real culprit? It wasn’t his swing—it was the flu. Fans expected him to bounce back strong at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but instead, he pulled out, needing extra rest. Then he skipped the WM Phoenix Open, leaving everyone wondering when he’d be back to full strength. Now, at the Genesis Invitational, he’s finally looking like himself again—tied for fifth after two rounds. But it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing to get here.

“Yeah, it was rough for a while,” Aberg explained after the second round. “Round 1 was fine, Round 2 was fine and I sort of woke up in the middle of the night, I guess this must have been Friday night because we started Wednesday, going into the third round and I started throwing up and I started all these things and it wasn’t very enjoyable. And then it sort of was OK for a couple days and then at Pebble it kind of shifted to like feverish and almost like body aches and shivering. First I was really hot, then I got really cold.”

Yeah… that does not sound fun. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the illness absolutely wrecked his body—he lost eight pounds in just two days. “That’s not the right way to lose weight,” he joked. So, what did he do during his time off?

“It was nice to get a week off last week and sort of just eat as much as I could to get back to training as normal, working out is normal. I’m still trying to build the weight up a little bit, I’m not quite where I started say Wednesday at Farmers. Probably got a couple pounds left to gain but getting there.” Aberg seems to be on the right track, and he is making every effort to be so. After all his game is at stake, and Aberg isn’t someone we expect to be lurking somewhere at the bottom of the leaderboard.

But what exactly happened to Aberg? Well, even he’s not sure but Aberg assumed that it “was food poisoning because it was sort of the timeline made sense, but then it sort of shifted to the fever.” Whatever it was, it put him through the wringer, but now he’s back—and with the way he’s trending, maybe, just maybe, that second PGA Tour win isn’t far off.

Can Ludvig Aberg win at Torrey Pines?

Torrey Pines is no walk in the park, especially with the windy conditions making life tough for even the best in the field. But if there’s one thing Åberg has going for him, it’s experience. He’s been here before, and he’s played really well. That familiarity gives him an edge. And if he’s already in contention despite the tough setup, his weekend looks pretty bright. Åberg is feeling good about his chances this time. Really good.

“Sort of a day like yesterday it’s so hard that no one’s really going to hit every green or every fairway, so it becomes more of a scrambling/putting party, whereas today you can shoot a low score,” he said. “If you’re hitting the ball well and hitting the fairways, you can be more aggressive into the greens. Felt like I handled it well today and looking forward to a nice weekend.”

But it won’t be easy. He’s got two of golf’s biggest names standing in his way—World No.1 Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, the latter fresh off his AT&T win. Not exactly the kind of guys you want breathing down your neck. But for Åberg, that’s just extra motivation.

“We know they’re both [Scheffler and McIlroy] playing very well. And it doesn’t really change the way that I try to go about my business, but yeah, obviously when those guys are at their best, it’s hard to beat,” he admitted. “But it’s also very encouraging to sort of try to keep up, I guess. Yeah, we’ll see. We’ve got a nice weekend of golf ahead of us, and we’ll see what we can do.”

Åberg has the confidence, the game, and the experience at Torrey Pines. Now, it’s just a matter of whether he can put it all together and take home that trophy.