Ludvig Aberg’s last event playing for Texas Tech starts Friday when the Red Raiders tee it up at the NCAA championship tournament in Scottsdale, Arizona.
He’s finishing his college career with another prestigious trophy either way.
For the second year in a row, the sensational Swede has won the Ben Hogan Award as the player of the year in college golf. The award was presented in a ceremony Monday night at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth with Aberg calling it “the pinnacle of college golf.”
“I’m overwhelmed to have my name even recognized in the same sentence as Mr. Hogan,” Aberg said, “because what he embodied with his game of golf and his perseverance and what he did for the sport that we all love is incredible .
“He embodied so many things that I like to embody, and he stands for so many things that I love to stand for. His dedication to his work, to his craft and perseverance to overcome all the odds and the attributes that he has is incredible . And I will continue to strive for honor the way that Mr. Hogan did.”
The 23-year-old senior from Eslov, Sweden was a four-time winner this school year, including the Big 12 tournament and the NCAA Norman Regional. He won the Big 12 title at Prairie Dunes in Hutchinson, Kansas, by eight strokes, his 15-under 265 setting tournament records for lowest score and strokes under par.
He is the latest — and at least as a collegian, most accomplished — in a long line of players from Sweden whom Tech coach Greg Sands has brought to the Rawls Course.
“I want to thank Texas Tech University for bringing me here to Texas and allowing me to be here and to strive in these environments,” Aberg said, recognizing his coaches, the program’s donors and supporters and his teammates. “I think we have a pretty cool place in Lubbock, and I can’t wait to get back, actually.”
The other finalists were Vanderbilt sophomore Gordon Sargent and Stanford junior Michael Thorbjornsen, whom Aberg called “two great competitors.” Aberg has nine top-10 finishes this school year, including the four victories. Sargent has 11 top-10s, including three wins, and Thorbjornsen has eight top-10s, including two wins.
“We’ve played a lot of golf together,” Aberg said, “and I think we’ve made each other better.”
The trio are also among 10 finalists for the Haskins Award that recognizes the outstanding player in college golf. The Haskins Award, first presented in 1971, has had a pair of three-peat winners — Texas’ Ben Crenshaw from 1971-73 and Arizona State’s Phil Mickelson from 1990-92. Bobby Clampett from Brigham Young won it back-to-back in 1979-80.
The Hogan Award was first presented in 1990 for players who exhibited excellence in academics as well as on the course. Since 2002, the Hogan Award has recognized “the outstanding male amateur and collegiate golfer of the year.”
Aberg joins Arizona State’s Jon Rahm as the only two-time winner of the Hogan Award. Rahm did it in 2015 and 2016, and the Spaniard has gone on to win the US Open in 2021 and the Masters this year.
With his No. 1 spot in the PGA Tour University ranking, Aberg can turn pro and play on the PGA Tour this summer.
In an interview after the ceremony on SiriusXM’s College Sports Radio, Aberg said, “I’m super proud of myself, what I’ve done and also the support system that I have around me.”
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Tech’s Ludvig Aberg wins his second Ben Hogan Award as college golf player of the year