LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Rory McIlroy says he is at the front of the Ludvig Aberg “bandwagon” as the rising star prepares to make his Ryder Cup debut later this month.
Aberg was hailed as a generational talent by Europe captain Luke Donald after he gave the 23-year-old Swede one of his six wild cards for the upcoming contest against the United States.
The former world No. 1 amateur only turned professional in June but won the final qualifying event in Switzerland and will make the quickest transition from the amateur ranks to the Ryder Cup in the contest’s history.
Four-time major winner McIlroy, in the field for this week’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, said he had played alongside Aberg in practice at the Ryder Cup venue, near Rome, this week.
World No. 2 McIlroy teamed up with Tommy Fleetwood, losing to Aberg and Viktor Hovland.
“I had an opportunity to play with Ludvig for the first time on Monday, which I was excited about,” he said.
“I told him I’ve been looking forward to this for a while.”
