Ludvig Aberg and Nick Gabrelcik both make the cut at the Valspar Championship
17 Mar 2023
by Jim Young of AmateurGolf.com
see also: Nick Gabrelcik Rankings
SHARE:
Nick Gabrelcik (UNF Athletics photo)
Amateurs
Ludvig Aberg and
Nick Gabrelcik will be around for the weekend at the Valspar Championship after both players made the cut at the PGA Tour stop in Innisbrook, Fla.
Aberg, the second-ranked amateur in the world by Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com, finished on the cutline at 1-over par after rounds of 72-71 on the Cooperhead Course at the Innisbrook Resort while Gabrelcik, a junior at North Florida who grew up in nearby Trinity, is at even par for the tournament after rounds of 75 and 67.
After carding a 4-over 75 in his opening round, Gabrelcik's PGA Tour debut was looking like it was going to be short-lived, but he quickly turned things around on Friday by making three consecutive birdies out of the gates and four over his first five holes to get back to even for the tournament. He erased his only bogey of the day on the 10th hole with a birdie on the 11th and finished off his round with seven consecutive pars to finish one stroke inside the cutline.
“It was awesome. I wasn’t expecting everybody out here to be waiting behind the grandstands to cheer me on. It was just a feeling that I don’t think I will ever experience again because you don’t get a first Tour event (again) and you don’t get a first cut all the time,” Gabrelcik told the Tampa Bay Times. “So it’s just really special to me.”
Making cuts in PGA Tour events is nothing new for Aberg, who shared the first-round lead at the DP TOURs Dubai Hero Classic and finished tied for 24th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational two weeks ago at Bay Hill. His steady play over the first two rounds on the Copperhead Course left the Swede right in the cutline at 1-over par.
According to PGA Tour Communications, the last time two amateurs made the cut in a non-major PGA TOUR event was at the 2020 World Wide Technology Championship (Quade Cummins and Austin Eckroat).
Adam Schenk leads the tournament at 7-under par, one stroke clear of Kramer Hickok.