No player has won The Masters on his debut since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979. Just three players have ever done so in the last 90 years, two of them in the first two stagings. The list of players to have won any of golf’s big four on their very first attempt is a short one, too – just six. This probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise; these are the tournaments that provide the sternest of tests – no one is meant to win one first time out.
This year could be different, for it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that a 24-year-old Swede by the name of Ludvig Aberg (you’ve heard of him, yes?) becomes the first player for 45 years to win at Augusta National having never played a professional round there. He’s that good and, as he says so himself, he’s ready.
“I mean, I’d like to think so, absolutely. I feel like I know my capabilities and I know my qualities,” says a relaxed Aberg, when we ask him whether he has the game to win a Major despite never having played in one. “All I can do is prepare for each event the best way I can and then see where that takes me.”
At this point, we need to rewind
