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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – It’s Ludvig Åberg’s world, we’re all just living in it. I guess we’re also living in his adopted American hometown this week, too. Well, let’s get into it …

The kids are OK

Sunday’s final pairing at THE PLAYERS will be a familiar one. Not for many of us, but for the competitors.

Ludvig Åberg and Michael Thorbjornsen grew up battling together as two of the best juniors and then again as collegiate stars. Åberg was the first player to earn PGA TOUR status straight from college. Thorbjornsen was the second, 12 months later. Now they’re fighting for the biggest victory of either of their lives.

I came to a realization when Åberg hit a towering 5-iron that never left the flag on the par-5 11th. Åberg is often mesmerizing to watch, but none more so than when he hits these long irons. This one was a 232-yard moon ball that settled 17 feet short of the hole. It was the moment of the day, but that wasn’t my realization. It was this: The kids are going to be OK.

At that moment, the leaderboard was littered with the “next generation.” Åberg is the lead dog of that pack, this week and broadly. But the coffers of young talent are full. Thorbjornsen is evidence. As are Jacob Bridgeman and Cameron Young and Akshay Bhatia and Chris Gotterup and Ryan Gerard.

Since Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas descended onto the PGA TOUR as teenage superstars, we’ve held unrealistic standards for young talent. That they must be phenoms, declared the next big thing at 14 years old, with signs that they are already there by 21. That’s just not this era. Golfers are going to college and staying there for four years – Åberg and Thorbjornsen are poster children of that – and the breakouts don’t need to happen immediately. Scottie Scheffler was 25 when he won his first major and wasn’t the bell of his college class or the Korn Ferry Tour when he joined. Åberg’s ascent happened quickly, but the big wins have taken a bit to follow. Thorbjornsen hasn’t won yet. For some reason, we keep looking for golfers who fit the old mold, without adjusting for the legitimate group of youngsters on the come-up.

This week is their coming-out party.

Åberg, 13-under, leads Thorbjornsen by three strokes entering Sunday of THE PLAYERS. Young is four behind and Bridgeman is six back. There’s a better chance than not that a burgeoning star is crowned on Sunday.

Revel in it. It may look different, but the sport has never stopped producing premier young talent.

Playing through

• 👍 Scottie Scheffler was done an hour before the leaders teed off. He’s not going to win (probably), but he put together a much-needed performance ...
• 🎥 Here are the extended Round 3 highlights …
• 😅 Ludvig Aberg has the most at stake of any player on Sunday. Who else is in the top five?

Schauffele struggles

The 15th hole was a microcosm of Xander Schauffele’s tough day.

Schauffele striped his drive down the center of the fairway, as he’s done on repeat the last two rounds (he hit all 14 fairways on Friday and 11 on Saturday). With only 150 yards to the pin, Schauffele had a legit chance at birdie. The only thing he couldn’t do was miss left. I knew that as I walked along, and Schauffele knew it, too.

Can you guess what happened next? Schauffele dumped his approach left into the gnarliest rough on the course, with no hope of hitting his recovery shot close. It led to his third bogey of the day.

Unsurprisingly, he went straight to the range after signing for his 2-over 74. TPC Sawgrass is tough, but Schauffele made it look particularly difficult. He was the lone player inside the top 15 that shot over par on Saturday. The round drastically lowered his chance of victory, though it didn’t eliminate it entirely.

Schauffele is still only five strokes back, and considering he shot 65 earlier this week, he can’t be ruled out. But that’s what made the round even more disappointing. He didn’t need to do that much to stay in contention and he might have played his way out of it anyway.

Parting shots

• 🎉 PGA TOUR CEO Brian Rolapp joined the NBC broadcast booth on Saturday. Some notes: Rolapp reiterated much of what we heard Wednesday as the Future Competition Committee continues to work toward meaningful change. We did get a new nugget. They plan to let fans surround the green for the final group at 18 on Sunday. One other notable news item … the attendance is expected to be 200,000 for the week. Some have been happy with the attendance of 115,000. The PLAYERS nearly doubled that …
• 👎 The Jordan Spieth magic ran out. He was last in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting, losing more than five strokes in a disappointing 4-over 76.
• 😯 A Thorbjornsen victory would break a lot of recent precedent. He would be the first player to call THE PLAYERS their first win since Tim Clark in 2010. Extend it out to THE PLAYERS and majors, and the last player to get their first TOUR win at one of those five events was Danny Willett and the 2016 Masters.
• 🦅 We're now up to 38 eagles total and $190,000 donated through Morgan Stanley's Eagles for Impact. Check out Daniel Berger's hole-out eagle from 109 yards.
• 😠 Cameron Young’s drive at the 18th cost him the final pairing, but his short game didn’t help. He was last in the field on Saturday around the greens, losing more than two strokes.