LDN Sports - Hilton Head

Ludvig Aberg cleans up his game and leads at Hilton Head with a 63

[April 17, 2026] By DOUG FERGUSON

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Ludvig Aberg swapped out some sloppy mistakes at the Masters with pure iron play at Harbour Town in warm, swirling wind that produced an 8-under 63 for a one-shot lead Thursday in the RBC Heritage.

Aberg moved ahead of Harris English and Viktor Hovland with an 8-iron to about 15 feet on the back corner of the green on the par-3 17th and made the birdie. He closed with a par, pleasing because he felt that 8-iron confirmed how well he was swinging the club.

Houston Open champion Gary Woodland, Matt Fitzpatrick and Rickie Fowler were in the group of players at 65.

Masters champion Rory McIlroy skipped this $20 million signature event for the second straight year, having said Harbour Town doesn’t suit him.

Scottie Scheffler, the runner-up last week at Augusta after a 65-68 finish, had a shocking start. His first tee shot was out-of-bounds on the right. He didn't know out-of-bounds was over there.

“It was looking like it was going to hit those trees and I guess it flew right through them and then hit path and went out-of-bounds,” Scheffler said. “Thumbs up for the start. It was a good bogey.”

That it was, a 12-foot putt to limit the damage, followed by a par save on the next hole and then it was business as usual in the tougher afternoon conditions for a 68.

Aberg had a disappointing week at Augusta National by his standards — a tie for 21st, his first time out of the top 10 in three appearances at the Masters.

“I felt like I was playing well but made some silly mistakes that prevented me from having a real chance,” Aberg said. “But I also felt like in the grand scheme of things, I was swinging it nice, I was moving it nice, so I didn’t have to prepare that much in terms of my golf swing on Monday through Wednesday, and I felt like good golf was in there.”

The challenge for Aberg and the other 52 players who were in the Masters was to stay sharp inside the ropes on an island that makes this tournament feel like a working vacation.

Hovland is feeling less stressful more because of his swing, instead of the week at the Masters when he made a big run up the leaderboard on Sunday only to catch the wrong gust at the wrong time that led to double bogey on the 15th hole. He still shot 67.

Hovland doesn't feel he's all the way back with his swing, but he found enough signs of progress to believe he is getting close. He played bogey-free for a 64 that featured no birdies on the three par 5s.

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Viktor Hovland, of Norway, lines up a putt on the second green during the first round at the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Thursday, April 16, 2026, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

“The whole year I've been working really hard, and I think now that I’m seeing my game progress and get closer to where I want it to be, I can start to relax a little bit more and focus on kind of the recovery aspect of things,” Hovland said.

English also played bogey-free for his 64, finishing with a birdie to a front pin over the bunker.

Davis Love III refurbished the fabled course to restore greens to their original design, but players felt it looked the same. And it played the same — opportunity from the fairway, trouble otherwise as Scheffler and others discovered.

Justin Thomas and Tommy Fleetwood each opened with a 76.

The toughest day belonged to someone who didn't even play. Brooks Koepka was the first alternate and showed up at Hilton Head in case someone withdrew. That typically means a two-hour wait in the morning, taking a break, and waiting some two hours during the afternoon wave.

Bad news for Brooks — this signature event has players in twosomes off the first tee, one right after the other. He was at the course about 6:45 a.m. (the first tee time was 7 a.m.) and could not leave until the last group teed off at 2:10 p.m.

There were three alternates on property — Keith Mitchell and Taylor Moore — because if Koepka got in, the stipulation for his return from LIV Golf was two additional players added to the field.

Morikawa seemed to be the best hope with his back that first went bad at The Players Championship. But he played the Masters with some trepidation and tied for seventh, and he played bogey-free at Harbour Town for a 66.

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