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already revealed his stance on  rival  by voicing his excitement towards being team-mates for the 2023 , saying: “I’ve been looking forward to this for a while.”

McIlroy, 35, is currently competing against Aberg, 24, at The Tour Championship, which teed off on Thursday and concludes on Sunday. Despite being at different stages in their careers, both are currently tied in T10 at  and still have a slim chance of bagging the $25million (£19m) prize, with  leading by 13 shots on -21 after the second round.

The pair first teamed up to clinch victory in last year’s Ryder Cup for Team Europe. The impressive Swede attracted high praise at the Marco Simone golf course from past and present players for his ability and composed demeanour at such an early stage.

But McIlroy had spoken glowingly of the prodigious golf talent beforehand, having been left impressed by Aberg after getting to know him on a team scouting trip ahead of the competition in Rome.

“It was amazing. I’m sort of surprised it’s the first time we’d ever really done it,” McIlroy said during his pre-tournament press conference for the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship at the Wentworth Club in Surrey, England.

“Yeah, there’s a few new faces on the team and I thought it was a great exercise in terms of getting to know one another a little bit better. I had an opportunity to play with Ludvig for the first time on Monday, which I was excited about. I told him, ‘I said I’ve been looking forward to this for a while.'”

McIlroy went on to add: “Everyone talks about what a great driver of the golf ball he is, which he is. The ball-striking is incredible. But I was really impressed with his wedge play and how he can sort of control his trajectory with shorter clubs. I was on the bandwagon before. Certainly at the front of it now.”

The pair won the 2023 Ryder Cup for Team Europe (

McIlroy pushed for Aberg to be on the Ryder Cup team last year without even having seen him play in person. The Swede made history by becoming the first player to feature at the Ryder Cup before playing in a major championship.

“I had way too many people telling me this guy was going to be one of the best,” McIlroy said of Aberg since he turned pro last June. “His attitude is absolutely perfect to play golf. It’s not very often the person lives up to the hype. But he lived up to the hype.”

The veteran’s prediction that Aberg will grow into a huge star has since been validated by the Swede’s meteoric ascent. He clinched his maiden PGA TOUR title at the RSM Classic in November 2023, catapulting him into the top 10 in the Official World Golf Rankings.

Aberg has enjoyed a sensational rise in golf over the past year (

Aberg went on to enjoy an impressive first season of majors in 2024. Following his Ryder Cup triumph, he entered the Masters ninth in the world – less than a year after turning pro.

After going toe-to-toe with Scheffler for the best part of the 72 holes, the World No.1 pulled away to claim his second green jacket, leaving Aberg in a respectable second place at 7-under despite not having played a competitive round at any major championship before. Aberg went on to lead the U.S. Open after two rounds in June but finished tied in 12th place after a triple-bogey in the third round.

The talent has certainly been living up to the praise lavished on him by McIlroy, currently sitting proudly as the world’s fourth-ranked golfer. As both players seek to round off the year on a bright note, Aberg is coolly taking the acclaim from his former team-mate in his stride.

“Well, it’s very flattering,” Aberg said. “To me, it just tells me that we are doing some good things, me and my team, and we’re probably not going to change a whole lot. But obviously hearing those things from Rory and those guys is very, very encouraging.”