PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Sunday will mark the first time Ludvig Åberg and Michael Thorbjornsen will be paired together at The Players Championship, but not at TPC Sawgrass.
North Florida has become the new ‘it’ spot for young professional golfers, with TPC Sawgrass and its massive practice facility the primary draw. Both Åberg and Thorbjornsen call the area home.
They also have spent time together on the Stadium Course when they’re home which means Sunday’s final pairing at The Players will be different, but not new.
“Yeah, that would be pretty cool. He’s a great guy. I love playing golf with him,” Thorbjornsen said when asked about a possible Sunday pairing with Åberg. “He was one of the guys in college that I looked up to, even though he’s only one year older than me. Very solid, very solid player. I think his mental game is extremely good as well. So if it ends up happening, I’m really looking forward to it and then, yeah, pretty cool that I guess two hometown guys are in the final group.”
It ended up happening thanks to Thorbjornsen’s third-round 67 that left him alone in second place and three strokes behind Åberg (71), who bogeyed his last hole Saturday to give the field a glimmer of hope. Aberg is at 13 under, Thorbjornsen at 10 under and Cameron Young (72) alone in third place at 9 under.
Thorbjornsen is playing The Players for the first time but he said he’s spent plenty of time learning the Stadium Course since moving to Florida’s “First Coast.”
“I know Karl Vilips, he’ll play out here sometimes and he’ll be like, ‘Oh, Mike, the course is in great shape for some reason right now, I don’t know why.’ But that’s probably when I’ll go and get a round out here,” Thorbjornsen said. “It’s also cool just to play holes 16, 17, 18, just look at these iconic holes. The whole course is unbelievable. I think it’s a really well-designed course, and it’s so much fun to play.”