Three shots ahead with 18 holes to play at TPC Sawgrass, Ludvig Aberg had every reason to believe Sunday was his day. Instead, two holes on the back nine turned a commanding lead into a T5 finish. And the Swede did not hold back when asked how he felt about it.

“Obviously, really disappointed. I felt like I was striking it okay early on. Overall, pleased with the week. Obviously, today the back nine was not good, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. I would have loved to be standing where Cameron is standing right now. But overall, I still felt like I saw some nice things in my game this week,” Ludvig Aberg told the media.

The 26-year-old was even par through 10 holes before finding the water with his approach on the par-five 11th, making bogey. He then pulled his tee shot into the lake on the short par-four 12th, carding a double bogey. Three shots were dropped in just two holes. He eventually finished at 4-over 76, slipping to a share of second place. It was his worst round of the week by far after he had carded rounds of 63, 69, and 71 heading into Sunday.

What made the 11th and 12th holes particularly costly in Round 4 was a pattern Ludvig Aberg himself recognized.

“I felt like I’ve had that sort of 7-wood right miss a few times this week, on No. 4 especially twice, and it came up on 11 as well. Then tried to press a little bit on 12, hitting driver, where sometimes you can play 3-wood a little short of that bunker. It was a poor swing, a really poor swing, and it definitely stings a little bit,” he added.

While Ludvig Aberg’s game was falling apart, Cameron Young was quietly building his case. Young, who started four back, only missed one shot during the day. He tied the lead with a birdie on the 17th hole before Matt Fitzpatrick’s bogey on the 18th gave him the victory at 13-under.

For the two-time PGA Tour winner, the loss adds a painful footnote to an otherwise strong week. He became just the fourth player since THE PLAYERS Championship moved to TPC Sawgrass in 1982 to lead by three or more strokes after 54 holes and fail to convert. His performance at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he finished T3, showed he was building momentum. However, Sunday simply was not his day.

Despite the painful finish, he chose to focus on what the week revealed about his game.

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Ludvig Aberg’s takeaways after the loss

Back-to-back good finishes on demanding courses gave him genuine confidence that his game belongs at the highest level heading into the bigger events ahead.

“I think obviously the biggest thing that I take away is that I feel like I’m playing nice golf. I’m playing golf to the point where I feel like I can contend in big tournaments. Obviously, a good finish last week and still a top-5 finish this week. Overall, I feel like I’m playing good golf, which is really nice,” he said.

“It’s nice to see a hard golf course last week, a hard golf course this week. That makes me excited. Obviously, I would have loved a different back-nine outcome today, but looking at the grand scheme of things, I’m pleased with my golf game.”

His playing partner and close friend, Michael Thorbjornsen, had an equally rough afternoon. Thorbjornsen entered the final round in a share of second but collapsed to T22 after a 5-over 77, headlined by a quadruple bogey on the fourth hole, where a wedge from just 84 yards found the water.

The golfer kept things light when asked about the pairing, noting that neither of them played well but expressing a genuine belief that both will be back in these positions. Given their ages and trajectories, that feels less like optimism and more like a fair assessment.