OLIVER HOLT: Golf is easy when you’re playing with The Stud. Ludvig Aberg symbolises the magic that flowed through Team Europe and his day one heroics at the 2023 Ryder Cup even left Novak Djokovic star-struck

• Ludvig Aberg is Europe’s 23-year-old prodigy taking the Ryder Cup by storm
• The rising star has been nicknamed by his European team-mates as ‘The Stud’
• Mail Sport’s new WhatsApp Channel: Get the breaking news and exclusives here

On a remarkable day of golf under a broiling Italian sun, a beautiful scene amid a feast of beautiful scenes unfolded towards the end of the morning by the side of the 15th green, high up on the course near the point where you can gaze down upon the Eternal City in the distance and glimpse the dome of St Peter’s Basilica.

All sorts of history was made and all manner of records were broken at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club as Europe put the USA to the sword on the first day of the Ryder Cup, but if you wanted a symbol of the magic that flowed through the team, there was no better place to appreciate it than here.

Ludvig Aberg, the 23-year-old prodigy who was selected to play in the competition even though he only turned professional a few months ago, had just won his first Ryder Cup point in his first match, partnering Viktor Hovland to an emphatic four-and-three foursomes victory over world No 7 Max Homa and Open champion Brian Harman.

Aberg, jokingly known as ‘The Stud’ by his team-mates because of his icy good looks, had done a couple of greenside interviews and was walking away to watch another match play out when he became aware of someone trying to attract his attention a few metres away. It was Novak Djokovic.

Djokovic, the greatest tennis player who ever lived and one of the greatest sportsmen of all time, had been following Aberg’s match for a couple of hours. He had chosen it above the other matches because all the talk about Aberg being the next great of golf had caught his imagination, too.

Ludvig Aberg is Europe’s 23-year-old prodigy taking the 44th edition of the Ryder Cup by storm

Aberg was selected to play even though he only turned professional a few months ago

His icy good looks have seen Aberg coin the nickname ‘The Stud’ by his Europe team-mates

So he beckoned Aberg over and a smile crept over Aberg’s serious face and the two men shared a hug. Game recognises game, they say, and Djokovic, a keen golfer, looked a little star-struck, which cannot happen often. The 24-time Grand Slam singles champion offered the young Swede a few words of congratulation and then watched him head back to the clubhouse.

Hovland, 26, was the best player of a gilded day. He bookended his golf with critical shots at the beginning and the end of his rounds and is establishing himself as one of the leaders of this European team.

But there was something intoxicating about following Aberg round the course on Friday, something wrapped up in the expectation that we were watching the first big landmark in what may go on to be a stellar career, and that he had negotiated it with aplomb.

It also felt as if Aberg’s performance and the fact that captain Luke Donald chose to give him such a prominent part on the first morning — before resting him for the fourballs — put him at the heart of this new European team and its great Italian renaissance.

Donald has talked several times about Europe being a team in transition, a team stripped of senior players such as Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia and which is embracing a new generation of stars.

No one personifies that brave new world better than Aberg, who became the first male golfer to be selected for a Ryder Cup without ever having played in a major championship. He helped set the tone for Europe’s first ever clean sweep of wins on the first morning of the competition.

Aberg was not flawless. That would have been asking too much even of him. It was obvious in the opening few holes that he was being affected by nerves and there were a couple of occasions where he needed Hovland, who played brilliantly, to tidy up after him.

That started on the first green when the Norwegian played a genius of a gentle chip-and-run that climbed a bank just fast enough to creep over its crest and then trickled remorselessly into the hole.

Novak Djokovic followed Aberg on his opening round and was left star-struck by the youngster

Aberg is being well followed having garnered a reputation as golf’s next emerging superstar

But it did not take Aberg long to settle and soon he was smiting his drives down the centre of the fairways and finding his range on the green. 

On the fourth, he nearly chipped in from the rough to square the hole but the ball danced around the lip and stayed out. He rectified that on the sixth by draining a 12-foot putt that put him and Hovland two up. 

Aberg sank another birdie on the ninth that put Europe three up and then, on the 11th, he hit such a fine wedge shot to within five feet of the hole that Djokovic turned to a friend in awe, from his vantage point, and applauded what he had just witnessed. 

By now, Aberg was driving imperiously. Experts and fellow players talk about the sweet sound the ball makes off his clubs and he was creaming his drives 20 or 30 yards past Harman’s. ‘It makes it a lot easier when you are playing off his drives,’ Hovland said later.

Aberg (far right) partnered Viktor Hovland (middle right) for an opening morning foursome 

Hovland admitted after the morning round:  ‘Golf is easy when you’re playing with The Stud’

On the 14th, a hole that sweeps downhill, he hit another magnificent drive that cut off the dog-leg, flew over a few trees and a bunker to land on a narrow piece of fairway far beyond the American pair. Hovland wedged it close, Aberg sank the putt and the Europeans were four up with four to play.

Hovland finished things off at the 15th when his bunker shot crept to within a couple of feet of the pin and the Americans conceded. 

Aberg, who had restrained his emotions until that point, raised his right arm in the air and whirled it around and around, exhorting the crowd to raise the volume even more. 

As they talked to the cameras afterwards, the perspiration rolled down Hovland’s face and stained his shirt. Aberg did not have a bead of sweat on him. ‘Golf is easy when you’re playing with The Stud,’ Hovland said. ‘Don’t let his inexperience fool you. He can go up against anyone.’

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