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Ludvig Åberg Holds Two-Shot Lead Over Scotland's Robert MacIntyre at Scottish Open

The 24-year-old continued his strong run of play at the Renaissance Club but now has a Scotland native hot on his heels.

Zach Koons

Aberg maintains his lead at the Scottish Open but will have to hold off a crowded leaderboard in Sunday's final round.
Aberg maintains his lead at the Scottish Open but will have to hold off a crowded leaderboard in Sunday's final round. / Katie Goodale-USA TODAY Sports

Ludvig Aberg has dominated this weekend at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick, keeping himself near or atop the competitive field at the 2024 Scottish Open. While that remains the case after Saturday's third round, he now has a Scotland native nipping at his heels.

Aberg carded a 5-under 65 Saturday to maintain a two-shot lead over Robert MacIntyre going into Sunday. The 24-year-old Swede has shot 65 or better in each round of the tune-up to the British Open, putting himself at 17 under for the tournament.

But the story of Saturday was MacIntyre, an Oban, Scotland native. The 27-year-old stormed up the leaderboard with a 7-under 63 in the third round, moving up to 15 under for the tournament and taking over second place outright.

MacIntyre started out hot on Saturday, tallying three birdies on the front en route to an opening-nine 30. The highlight came on the par-4 5th hole when he sank a lengthy eagle putt after driving the green to move into a tie for the lead.

But the steady Aberg held off the run and locked into Saturday's round right away. A stellar approach into the par-4 1st set up a winding birdie putt that the 24-year-old dropped into the cup. He went on to make six more birdies and only two bogeys throughout the rest of the round.

Aberg has had a stellar 2024 but is still seeking his first win of the year. The former Texas Tech star finished in second at the Masters and a tie for12th in his first U.S. Open in June, which helped him skyrocket up to the No. 4 ranking in the world.

With a two-shot advantage going into Sunday's final round, Aberg will seek to end that winless drought and hoist his first trophy of 2024 before setting his sights on next week's British Open.

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Zach Koons

ZACH KOONS

Zach Koons is a programming editor at Sports Illustrated who frequently writes about Formula One. He joined SI as a breaking/trending news writer in February 2022 before joining the programming team in 2023. Koons previously worked at The Spun and interned for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He currently hosts the "Bleav in Northwestern" podcast and received a bachelor's in journalism from Northwestern University.

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