SAN DIEGO — Ludvig Åberg never felt worse leaving a golf course than three weeks ago at Torrey Pines when he shared the 36-hole lead only to get violently ill from a stomach ailment and stagger to the finish with a 79.
That’s what made Sunday — same course, different tournament — feel so sweet.
Aberg was three shots behind and running out of holes when he hit three shots to near perfection for birdies and capped off his late rally with a 7-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th for a 6-under 66 and a one-shot victory over Maverick McNealy in the Genesis Invitational.
The tournament had to relocate to Torrey from Riviera because of the wildfires in Los Angeles, and Aberg made good on another chance at one of his favorite courses. It was somewhere toward the end that he turned to caddie Joe Skovron and said, “This Sunday is a lot more fun than the last one we had.”
“Was nice to come here starting to feel like myself again and physically getting there,” he said. “It means a lot. This is the best feeling in golf, and to be able to do what I did today is definitely going to help me going forward in the future.”
He met Tiger Woods, the tournament host, for the first time a few weeks ago at the indoor TGL in Florida. This was better — Woods presenting him the trophy, the second PGA Tour title for the 25-year-old Swede and his third worldwide that takes him to No. 4 in the world.
“It’s very reassuring to know that I can go from where I was a couple weeks ago to winning a tournament in sort of a quick turnaround,” he said.
It was a close call for McNealy, who three months ago won for the first time on tour. He looked like a winner at Torrey Pines when he opened with eight birdies in 11 holes — not to mention a 40-foot par putt on the first hole — and stretched his lead to three.
But he had to scramble for par on the 17th after a drive that caromed off a pole and into an impossible lie in the rough, and then he failed to convert a birdie on the 18th.
“It’s more than I could have asked for at the start of the day,” said McNealy, who started five shots behind and finished Sunday with a 64. “Ludvig played awesome. I knew with that leaderboard it was going to take some great golf to get it done.”
Woods watched a lot of unfold from the broadcast booth. Woods withdrew from the tournament on Monday as he coped with the death of his mother, Kultida, last week. Players wore a red button that had the Thai symbol of love to honor her.
Aberg’s strong rally started with a 6-foot sliding par putt on the 12th. He two-putted from 50 feet for birdie on the 13th, attacked a daunting back pin on the 14th to 5 feet for birdie and rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt on the 15th to tied for the lead.
From the middle of the fairway on the par-5 18th, he hit 7-wood long, some 70 feet away, then rolled that down to just under 7 feet before calmly holing the putt.
“It was a great fight,” Aberg said. “I’m really proud of the way I finished. It was really cool.”
Aberg, who finished at 12-under 276, won $4 million for his third victory worldwide since turning pro in June 2023 as the top-ranked college player out of Texas Tech.
Scottie Scheffler was 10 shots better than the third round with a 66 and tied for third with Patrick Rodgers (71).
Scheffler fell five shots behind with a 76 on Saturday, his highest score in nearly three years. That didn’t stop him from making a brief run. He went out with a 31, which included five birdies, and got to within one shot.
But he couldn’t afford many mistakes, and he made two of them. He left a delicate, downhill chip in the rough on the par-3 11th and made bogey, and after holing a bunker shot for birdie on the 15th to stay in the game, he failed to save par from a bunker on the 16th.
He closed with a 66 and finished alone in third.
Scheffler played with Rory McIlroy and led him by five on the front nine. McIlroy couldn’t buy a putt and could only laugh at one point during the round. He finished with a bogey from the water on the 18th for a 72.
Rodgers and Denny McCarthy, playing in the final group, also took their turns in the lead during the final round until the tough back nine on the South course caught up with them.
Rodgers fell back because of bogeys on the 11th and 12th holes and never caught up. McCarthy had the lead when he made eagle on the par-5 sixth and didn’t make another birdie until the final hole for a 71 to tie for fifth.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
