Ludvig Åberg's professional career will experience another first this week, albeit one he wish he could have avoided. According to Golf Channel's Todd Lewis, the 24-year-old is set to have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to repair a torn meniscus that will sideline him for roughly a month. The injury began to surface the week of the Wells Fargo Championship in May when Åberg withdrew from the competition due to left knee soreness.
"This week Ludvig Åberg will have arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee that has bothered him since Spring," Lewis reported. "Ludvig should be able to hit balls 3-4 weeks after the procedure. Likely to play again in 2024 on a limited schedule."
After withdrawing for the Wells Fargo Championship, Åberg returned to competition the following week at the PGA Championship at Valhalla. Arriving in Louisville with a brace on his left knee, the smooth-swinging right hander struggled with bending down properly to read putts and ultimately missed the cut in his championship debut.
While Åberg's green-reading technique did not return to normalcy for the rest of the season, his game did. In his last nine tournaments on the PGA Tour schedule, the Swede captured three top-five finishes and a T12 result at the U.S. Open after holding the 36-hole lead. Åberg wrapped up his first full PGA Tour season on Sunday at the Tour Championship with a solo 16th place finish, but his year is far from over.
"I'm probably going to kick my feet up quite a bit, make sure that I've got some time to recover, got some time to work on a few things, and I'll definitely go play the DP World Tour in Abu Dhabi, Dubai," Åberg said ahead of the Tour Championship. "Those are my plans right now. It might change. But that's where I'm at right now."
Currently ranked eighth in the DP World Tour's Race to Dubai, Åberg's return will come in the final two events on the European circuit's schedule. The Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship is scheduled for Nov. 7-10 with the DP World Tour Championship set to take place the following week from Nov. 14-17.