SAN DIEGO — Ludvig Aberg never felt worse leaving a golf course than at Torrey Pines three weeks ago, when he shared the 36-hole lead in the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open only to get violently ill from a stomach ailment and stagger to the finish with a 79 as he tied for 42nd place.
That’s what made Sunday — same course, different tournament — feel so sweet for the 25-year-old Swede.
Aberg was three shots behind and running out of holes when he hit three shots to near perfection for birdies, then capped his late rally with a seven-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th for a 6-under 66 and a one-shot victory over Maverick McNealy in the Genesis Invitational.
Aberg, who finished the 72-hole tournament at 12-under 276, won $4 million for his third victory worldwide since turning pro in June 2023 as the top-ranked college player out of Texas Tech.
The Genesis Invitational had to relocate to Torrey from it usual venue, Riviera Country Club, because of the wildfires in the Los Angeles area, and Aberg made good on another chance at one of his favorite courses. It was somewhere toward the end that he turned to caddie Joe Skovron and said, “This Sunday is a lot more fun than the last one we had.”