PGA Championship: Ludvig Åberg, dealing with knee injury, trying to 'focus on the golf' after Masters finish

Though he’s been dealing with a knee injury in recent weeks, and it kept him out of the field last week in North Carolina, Ludvig Åberg isn’t concerned about his health in the lead up to the PGA Championship.

Åberg, who finished in second at the Masters last month in what was his first ever major championship appearance, will wear a knee brace this week at Valhalla. That, he said, is “just for safety reasons.”

"It's nothing that's bothering me," he said on Wednesday. "I'm focusing on the golf."

Åberg, 24, only accepted his PGA Tour card a little less than a year ago. Immediately, he took off in the golf world. He won the Omega European Masters on the DP World Tour last September, helped Europe win the Ryder Cup and then won The RSM Classic last fall on the PGA Tour.

Åberg has made the cut in all 10 of his Tour appearances so far this season, and he has five top-10 finishes — including in three of his last four starts. He finished in second at Augusta National, though well behind Scottie Scheffler, in what was his first ever major start. Åberg then finished T10 at the RBC Heritage the following week.

He was going to compete in the Wells Fargo Championship last week in the lead up to the PGA Championship, but withdrew ahead of time due to knee soreness.

"I've never had any issues before, and obviously I think last week was more of a safety concern more than anything," he said. "I was at home making sure that I was going to be ready for this week and prepare myself the best way I could and then be ready to play here."

Åberg enters play this week at No. 6 in the Official World Golf Rankings. He'll tee off alongside Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas in the first two rounds.

Though he’s seemingly not missed a step since turning pro, Aberg has only been playing professionally for 11 months. In order to back up his run at Augusta National, Aberg isn’t trying to think too hard about that fact.

"Obviously I'm still doing a lot of firsts when I'm playing these tournaments," he said. "Obviously this week is my first PGA Championship and only my second major. I'm feeling all these things that first-timers do and it's the same thing for me. So I try to focus on the golf.

"At the end of the day, this is what I've been wanting to do since I was a little boy and I love doing it."