PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The miss was left from the start. Ludvig Åberg gets quick when he’s nervous. Quick in his movements, his decisions and his swing.

On the first hole, after roasting a drive down the middle, he pulled his approach. It held the green, but it wasn’t where Åberg was aimed. It happened again on the second hole with his tee shot – too quick through the ball again – with his approach shot on the third and with his drive on the fourth. That errant drive led to his first bogey of the day– the first chink in his armor. It wouldn’t be the last.

The one that sunk Åberg came on the 12th. Moments after finding the water on the 11th and losing the outright lead, Åberg lost it for good. Clearly frazzled, Åberg hit a towering drive that was left from the start, sailing well past dry land and into the middle of the pond that guards the left side of the drivable par-4 12th.

They say things come in threes. In this case, it’s a trio of heartbreak that has provided us a painful reminder of how hard it is to win. Two weeks ago, Shane Lowry collapsed at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches and lost a late lead. Last week, Daniel Berger coughed up the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. And on Sunday, Åberg collapsed, relinquishing a three-stroke lead with nine holes to play to lose THE PLAYERS Championship – the most gut-wrenching of them all.

“It got away from me quick there,” Åberg said. “Yeah, it was just poor swings.”

This didn’t happen to unproven pros. It happened to three PGA TOUR winners, three Ryder Cuppers. They are all top-10 players when they are at their best. Yet all of them can also be susceptible to their worst when the pressure ratchets up. Lowry clinched the Ryder Cup for the Europeans six months ago, then shanked a ball into the water to lose a TOUR event at PGA National. Berger’s bulldog mentality is his most memorable trait, but Akshay Bhatia backed him down the stretch at Bay Hill. Åberg is the cool, calm and collected king of the next generation of stars. Yet he had no answer for the obvious nerves that seep into everyone – no matter their stature – in the late going of tournament golf.

“He's so laid-back, like, ridiculously laid-back,” Rory McIlroy said of Åberg on Sunday morning, back when this looked like a sure victory for his Ryder Cup teammate.

TPC Sawgrass is particularly relentless. Every shot requires a plan, full commitment to it, and proper execution. Get one component wrong and there are immediate consequences. Double bogeys lurk at every corner. The closing stretch is built to pull on any little bit of nerves until it turns you into a shell of who you were just a few holes before.

Åberg was supposed to be the one who could withstand it all. It’s become a joke that he’s part robot. His swing looks like it’s built in a lab, as efficient as it is beautiful. His demeanor is what every athlete craves. He possesses a level-headed freedom that is uncanny for a 26-year-old. He laughed after he dumped his approach into the water on the 11th hole at Augusta National two years ago to sink his Masters hopes. The moment confounded so many that caddie Joe Skovron still gets asked why his player was chuckling after such heartbreak. McIlroy gawked at his mentality. It’s easy for him to be level-headed as a 36-year-old Grand Slam winner. Yet he still can’t seem to match Åberg’s energy.

That’s the cruel and universal thing about it. Nobody is immune.

Åberg’s day was going seamlessly before the 11th hole. Yes, he had missed a few left on the front nine, but he weathered the storm.

He hit two clinical shots into the fifth hole and made a comfortable par. He made it through the stretch of Nos. 6-8 unscathed. He managed only a par at the ninth, but got up-and-down from the rough on the 10th, a good save. Then he roped a drive right down the middle at the 11th. A day earlier, it was the site of Åberg’s most consequential shot. From 238 yards out, Åberg stuck a 5-iron to 17 feet, then holed the eagle putt. If he had won, it would have been the signature moment of the best win of his career. Now it will be forgotten; his approach on the same hole a day later will be the one shown in the highlight reel.

From 267 yards, Åberg wiped his approach into the water. He dropped short of the water and hit a wedge onto the green, but two-putted for bogey. Then came the disaster at 12, a double bogey that took Åberg out of the lead for the first time since the ninth hole in the second round. He dropped another at the 15th and missed a birdie putt on the 16th, eliminating any last hope for a comeback.

“I definitely felt a little bit fast at times,” Åberg said. “I would imagine if I look at those swings on sort of 11, 12, they probably were quick swings. Takeaway got really fast and then the rest of it kind of spirals from there. That's something that I should have been aware of, now looking back. But yeah, that's the way it goes.”

His redemption story will come down the line. Åberg is too good for it not to. So are Lowry and Berger. On Sunday, though, Åberg choked.

At least he has some company.