03 September 2023 , 19:26
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European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald may well be forced to make a late change to his six picks after Swedish starlet Ludvig Aberg secured victory at the Omega European Masters on Sunday.
Donald will confirm his six captain's picks on Monday (September 4), after Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton, Robert MacIntyre and Matt Fitzpatrick made up the first half of the team via automatic qualification. Ahead of the announcement it is expected that the experienced Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Shane Lowry will earn a spot.
With three spots remaining, the in-form Sepp Straka is set to be given his first Ryder Cup call-up after impressing on the PGA Tour throughout 2023. This leaves Donald with two places left to fill, and there are whole host of candidates bidding for the vacant spots.
The likes of Adrian Meronk, the Hojgaard twins, Nicolai and Rasmus, and Yannick Paul have been in the conversation for some time having found themselves in and around the top end of the Points List throughout qualifying. In recent months, though, another name that has been added to Donald's draft list is Aberg.
Despite only becoming a professional in June, the Swedish starlet has announced himself as one of Europe's rising stars after easing into life on the PGA Tour. Aberg has finished inside the top-25 in five of his first eight starts as a pro, before adding his first victory in Switzerland this week.
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The youngster shot an impressive six-under-par 64 in his final round of the European Masters, to finish on 19-under for the tournament and clinch the title. Prior to his win it was thought that Aberg's case for a Ryder Cup pick had come too little too late, but his Sunday in the Swiss mountains could well have changed things.
Ludvig Aberg secured victory at the Omega European Masters (Getty Images)The potential selection of the Swede had initially been questioned by many, including fellow pro Eddie Pepperell who felt those who had been in contention throughout the qualifying deserved the nod rather than the new kid on the block. Pepperell went on to claim that the only way Aberg merited a place on Donald's team would be to win at Crans-sur-Sierre.
While commentating for Sky Sports, he said: "I feel like he needed to win or come close very close to winning this week to warrant a pick. If he doesn’t do that and still gets a pick I worry a little bit about what that means for whoever is going to come at the expense of that.
"They’ve spent this year playing on this tour, they’ve done well." Of course just two days later the former world No. 1 amateur did exactly that after securing the European Masters crown by two shots, making him a hard man to ignore for Donald.