Rory McIlroy put on notice as PGA Tour ace makes six-word claim about US Open star
Rory McIlroy and his fellow pursuers have been told they face a tall order as they look to overhaul Ludvig Aberg, who held the US Open lead at the halfway stage
Rory McIlroy and the rest of the chasing pack have been on notice after Ludvig Aberg hit the front at the US Open. Just a year after turning professional, Aberg held a one-shot lead at the halfway stage of his US Open debut and only the third major championship of his career.
Aberg added a 69 to his opening 66 at Pinehurst to finish five under par, a shot ahead of Belgium’s Thomas Detry and the American pair of Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Cantlay. McIlroy, Tony Finau and Matthieu Pavon were left two shots off the lead on three under.
The last player to win the US Open on their tournament debut was amateur Francis Ouimet in 1913, but Aberg repeating that feat would come as no great surprise following an extraordinary start to his professional career. The Swede joined the paid ranks in June 2023 but quickly won on the DP World Tour.
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He helped Europe regain the Ryder Cup in Rome, including a record 9&7 win with Viktor Hovland over Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka. Aberg also tasted victory on the PGA Tour before the end of the season.
Such performances earned the 24-year-old a major debut at the Masters and he pushed Scheffler all the way in April before the world number one pulled away to claim a second green jacket at Augusta National.
Finau, one of his playing partners over the first two rounds at Pinehurst, was gushing in his praise of the 24-year-old, branding him “a machine” and suggesting he, McIlroy and the rest will have a tough job stopping him from creating history. Speaking at the end of round two, Finau said: “It’s the first time I’ve ever played with him. The guy is like a machine."
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Meanwhile, the man himself said casually: “I think a US Open is supposed to be hard. It’s supposed to be tricky and it’s supposed to challenge any aspect of your game and I feel like it’s really doing that.
“But I’m super fortunate with the way that things have turned out over the last couple days and hopefully we’ll be able to keep it up.”
Meanwhile, Scheffler made the halfway cut on the mark of five over par following a second round of 74, while former Open champion Francesco Molinari did so in amazing fashion with a hole-in-one on the ninth, his last hole of the day.
