HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Ludvig Aberg swapped out some sloppy mistakes at the Masters with pure iron play at Harbour Town in warm, swirling wind that produced an 8-under 63 for an early one-shot lead Thursday in the RBC Heritage.
Aberg moved ahead of Harris English and Viktor Hovland with an 8-iron to about 15 feet on the back corner of the green on the par-3 17th and made the birdie. He closed with a par, pleasing because he felt that 8-iron confirmed how well he was swinging the club.
Houston Open champion Gary Woodland and Rickie Fowler were in the group of players at 65.
Masters champion Rory McIlroy skipped this $20 million signature event for the second straight year, having said Harbour Town doesn’t suit him. Scottie Scheffler, the runner-up last week, was among those playing in the afternoon.
It was a wild start for Scheffler, who had to hit two off the tee on the first hole and made a 12-foot putt to escape with bogey.
Aberg had a disappointing week at Augusta National by his standards — a tie for 21st, his first time out of the top 10 in three appearances at the Masters.
“I felt like I was playing well but made some silly mistakes that prevented me from having a real chance,” Aberg said. “But I also felt like in the grand scheme of things, I was swinging it nice, I was moving it nice, so I didn’t have to prepare that much in terms of my golf swing on Monday through Wednesday, and I felt like good golf was in there.”
The challenge for Aberg and the other 52 players who were in the Masters was to stay sharp inside the ropes on an island that makes this tournament feel like a working vacation.
Hovland is feeling less stressful more because of his swing, instead of the week at the Masters when he made a big run up the leaderboard on Sunday only to catch the wrong gust at the wrong time that led to double bogey on the 15th hole. He still shot 67.
Hovland doesn't feel he's all the way back with his swing, but he found enough signs of progress to believe he is getting close. He played bogey-free for a 64 that featured no birdies on the three par 5s.
“The whole year I've been working really hard, and I think now that I’m seeing my game progress and get closer to where I want it to be, I can start to relax a little bit more and focus on kind of the recovery aspect of things,” Hovland said.
English also played bogey-free for his 64, finishing with a birdie to a front pin over the bunker.
The toughest day belonged to someone who didn't even play. Brooks Koepka was the first alternate and showed up at Hilton Head in case someone withdrew. That typically means a two-hour wait in the morning, taking a break, and waiting some two hours during the afternoon wave.
Bad news for Brooks — this signature event has players in twosomes off the first tee, one right after the other. He was at the course about 6:45 a.m. (the first tee time was 7 a.m.) and could not leave until the last group teed off at 2:10 p.m.
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