Has a rookie ever won the Masters? Record explored as Ludvig Aberg fights for lead at Augusta

The final round of the 2024 Masters is just a few hours away. The 88th edition of Masters is being held at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. 89 players participated but only 60 of them succeeded in crossing the cut line that settled at 6 over 148.

Several notable players like Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Dustin Thomson, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson and Sam Burns failed to make it to the weekend play. While the seasoned veterans stumbled, the newcomers thrived. Many rookies like Nicolai Hojgaard, Mattieu Pavon, Ludvig Aberg and Eric Cole have performed well and successfully made the cut at Augusta National.

Ludvig Aberg is in contention for the title and he'd be looking to become the first rookie to win the Masters after more than three and a half decades. The last rookie to win the tournament was Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.

Before him, Horton Smith won the tournament in the inaugural season of Masters in 1934. In the following year, Smith emerged victorious in a play-off win over Craig Wood.

If Aberg wins the competition, he'll be the fourth rookie to win at Augusta National GC. Apart from Aberg's first Masters, the tournament is also his first Majors. Until now, no player has won the Masters in their first major start, hence Aberg can attempt to have a record to his name.

Aberg is in the fourth position with a score of 4 under par. At the top three positions of the scoreboard are Scottie Scheffler (7 under par), Collin Morikawa and Max Homa.

Nicolai Hojgaard, another rookie is in the T6 position with Cam Davis and Schauffele with scores of 2 under par. Mattieu Pavon is positioned at T16 with 1 above par. Eric Cole is at T50 with 10 above par.

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Ludvig Aberg's performance at the 2024 Masters

Ludvig Aberg has had scores of 73, 69 and 70 in the first three rounds of 2024. Aberg has secured 12 birdies and 35 pars at Augusta till now. He also hit 6 bogeys and 1 double bogey or worse.

The 24-year-old from Sweden turned professional in June 2023 after he finished college at Texas Tech as the top-ranked amateur in the world. Talking about his performance at Augusta, he said that his experience at Lubbock is coming into play. Aberg said:

"Yeah, we were actually saying that yesterday, that it was a normal day in Lubbock. Obviously, we played in a lot of wind in Lubbock and yesterday was the same. I’m not sure if that really translates, but I guess I’m a little bit more used to it."

Aberg had a strong third round. He started with a 33 on the front nine with birdies on holes 2, 5, and 9. Despite back-to-back bogeys on holes 14 and 15, he finished the day at 2-under after some trouble on the par-5 15th where he struggled with his chips and ended with a three-putt.

Ludvig Åberg of Sweden and his caddie Joe Skovron shake hands on the 18th green after finishing their round during the third round of the 2024 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

He credited his caddie Joe Skovron and said:

"I think what me and Joe have been doing, we're both very disciplined. We’re not trying to force anything. We're not trying to go for pins, and we're not trying to make decisions that will cost us, I guess. We're trying to take calculated risks all the time.

Aberg said that Joe and he have been disciplined toward their targets and expressed confidence over Sunday's play.

Aberg mentioned that at Augusta, one always attempts to position oneself correctly and tries to sink the putts, adding that he'd follow the same approach on Sunday regardless of being tied for the lead, or trailing by two or four strokes.