Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg withdrew from The American Express in La Quinta, Calif. before the start of his third round on Saturday due to an illness.
Making his first start of 2026, Aberg was 7-under par and playing the Stadium Course at PGA West. He was going to be battling the make the cut line, which was projected to be around 10 under after 54 holes for the pro-am portion of the tournament.
Aberg became the fourth player to withdraw from the event, joining Luke Clanton, Rico Hoey and Nick Dunlap.
Former PGA Tour player Jeff Gove filled in to play for Aberg on Saturday so that his amateur had a partner.
This is the second consecutive year that Aberg has dealt with an illness during the early part of the PGA Tour schedule. He shared the first-round lead at the Farmer Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif., last year when he became ill. Aberg battled through it to post 75-74-79 over the final three rounds, but was forced to withdraw from the AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, Calif., and ultimately lost 10 pounds.
He returned to win his next start at the Genesis Invitational, which, coincidentally, was moved to Torrey Pines following the devastating Los Angeles wildfires.
Aberg, who has been as high as No. 4 in the Official World Golf Ranking, has slid to No. 18. However, he did tie for third in his most recent start at the DP World Tour Championship in November.
–Field Level Media
