Golf tournaments are typically a zero-sum game. One man’s bogey is another man’s treasure. One man’s good bounce is another man’s misfortune. One man’s victory means another man’s defeat. The bigger the event and the higher the stakes, the more chasmic the gap between winning and losing. It doesn’t help that golfers can be a miserable bunch, tending as they do towards perfectionism, cynicism, dissatisfaction.
Except at the 2024 Masters, where everybody’s leaving happy.
It’s difficult to overstate the gravity of Aberg’s showing so I won’t bother. I’ll let him understate it instead; that’s more his style.
“It shows we’re doing a lot of good stuff, and obviously finishing well in the Masters is a dream come true,” he said. “Just playing here has been such a privilege, and I’m super proud of myself and the team and all the work that we’re doing.”
Aberg played in the penultimate pairing alongside Max Homa and when Aberg faltered with seven holes to play, Homa appeared to be the only remaining challenger for Scottie Scheffler. But his tee shot to the ticklish 12th landed just long, took a brutal bounce into the ivy and led to an untimely double bogey.
His hopes of winning the tournament were undone but he steadied the ship on the way home and finished at four under par and a share of third. Homa has been emotional after near-misses in the past but not this time; he emerged from scoring and burst out laughing as his wife Lacey appeared holding their one-year-old son, Cam, who wouldn’t be denied until he’d grabbed hold of one of his father’s wedges.
Read more here from Golf Digest.
