Ludvig Aberg Cost Himself Over $700K With Blowup On Final Two Masters Holes
While all the attention at the Masters is rightfully on Rory McIlroy, who overcame some terrible shots to finally capture the career grand slam, there was a subplot playing out at the end of the tournament that involved Ludvig Åberg.
With McIlroy melting down on the back nine, making an inexplicable double-bogey on the par-5 13th hole followed by a bogey on the par-4 14th, Åberg suddenly found himself in a three-way tie at the top with McIlroy and Justin Rose. All three players had a score of 10-under-par at that point.
First place at the Masters paid $4.2 million in 2025, a prize that McIlroy ultimately won. Second place paid $2.268 million, and that went to Justin Rose, who lost to McIlroy on the first playoff hole.
While Åberg's -10 wouldn't have been good enough to reach the playoff, since McIlroy and Rose both posted scores of -11, it would have been good enough for a solo third place. That would have paid the 25-year-old professional golfer a cool $1.428 million.
All Åberg had to do was make par on 17 and 18, and he would have collected nearly one-and-a-half million dollars. But that didn't happen. Not even close. Åberg made bogey on 17, but his troubles were just beginning.
Ludvig Åberg made a bogey on the 71st hole and a triple-bogey on the 72nd hole at the Masters, losing more than $700,000 in prize money.
(Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
The Swede drove the ball into a fairway bunker on the 18th hole. His first attempt to get out went … poorly. He hit the lip of the bunker and the ball came back down to his feet. Then, he hit his next shot into the greenside bunker.
After that, he sailed his shot over the green, had to pitch back onto it, and finally two-putted for a triple-bogey. A truly disastrous sequence for the immensely talented golfer.
Add it all up and Åberg went from 10-under through 16 holes to 6-under. He dropped from a three-way tie for first into solo seventh place. While seventh still paid just over $700,000, that's a pretty big financial loss for Åberg. One could argue he lost $3.5 million, since he didn't win, but if we simply set the bar for him making par on the final two holes, he lost more than $700K on those two holes.
If we just consider the triple-bogey on the 18th and ignore the bogey on the 17th, Åberg would have finished in a tie for third with Patrick Reed had the Swedish pro simply made par on 18. A third-place tie would have paid $1.2 million.
Surely, no one is going to cry too many tears for Åberg, who has won nearly $19 million on the PGA Tour since turning pro two years ago. Still, it has to be tough pill to swallow for him.
And for bettors who backed him to finish in the Top 5? He was cruising into that position before the disaster on 18. Something tells me those bettors are hurting a bit more financially than Åberg on Sunday night.