Sweden isn’t exactly a flat country, the highest peak in the entire country is just shy of 7,000 feet. So it’s safe to say, the hottest name in Swedish golf right now, Ludvig Aberg, probably hasn’t dealt with the effects of prolonged exposure to altitude too often back home
With this week’s BMW Championship host, Castle Pines, sitting at an average of 6,200 feet elevation in the Colorado Rockies, it seems Aberg is clearly seeing the effects of altitude on the human body and it hit him at an inopportune time Saturday.
But the 24-year-old phenom handled it like a seasoned vet.
Aberg started the third round of the BMW four shots off Adam Scott’s lead after matching the 2013 Masters winner, 20 years his senior, with a 63 Friday. He was near the par-5 first in two, but left his third shot short, leaving him a 53-foot putt from off the green at Castle Pines second easiest hole.
But as Aberg went through his routine over the putt, he must of have felt something dripping down his nose. He was standing over the ball, about to get in his stance.
You know the feeling. You think it might just be a little snot coming down your nose, but you never know for sure unless you touch your nose to see what comes on your hand. Given the dry mountain air in Colorado, there’s a much higher chance it could be a nosebleed.
Casually, almost like it was part of his routine, Aberg touched his nose. It came back a little red.
“Welcome to Colorado,” said NBC analyst Smylie Kaufman. “This altitude, the dry air.”
Aberg stepped away from the putt, smiled and started laughing. It was one of those moments when the timing was so comedically perfect, there was nothing else you could do but laugh.
Then Aberg took his towel from caddie Joe Skovron and, in a completely unhinged moment, started wiping away the blood with the dirty end of the towel.
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You know, the side of the towel you use to clean the dirt off the golf clubs. Not the pristine white end you use for sweat.
Presumably, towels are not in short supply for Aberg, who has seen a rocket-like rise to superstardom in the golf world, already the 4th-ranked player in the world in his first full PGA Tour season. But, he chose to preserve that white end anyway, for whatever reason. Maybe it was just to look tough.
Aberg was laughing off the episode the whole episode in good fun, but he had more reason to laugh after he hit the putt.
His ball smacked the flagstick before falling in for an eventful birdie 4.
At first, he remained stoic and calmly waved to the crowd, but he couldn’t hide his smile for long and started laughing again.
He eventually got a piece of tissue to stuff up his nose to stem the bleeding. But someone should still get him and Skovron a new towel for Round 4.
His day would kind of mirror the first hole as he made two more birdies on Nos. 4 and 5 to take the solo lead at 12 under after Scott played the first three holes in three over behind him. He fell all the way back to eight under with two bogeys and a double but got it back to 10 under thanks to an eagle on the 14th.
That put him two shots back of Keegan Bradley heading to the final round.
