After 68 and 73 strokes on the first two rounds, the blue-yellow hope lies shared 12th in the major at Augusta National.
There are many players to pass to lay hands on the green jacket, but no more than five strokes up to the leading Englishman Justin Rose.
"Much golf left"
A lead that is anything but insurmountable on a golf course where the slightest mistake risks being severely punished. The situation is only marginally worse than last year, when Åberg surged during the weekend to become a sensational second in his major debut.
There are two days with much golf left. Hopefully, we can pick up a good round tomorrow, says Åberg ahead of Saturday's play.
The third round is known as "moving day" and for Ludvig Åberg, it is about moving up the scoreboard, to get close contact ahead of Sunday's decisive round.
But not by going on full attack. After Friday's round, Ludvig Åberg preached and patience, to play against the right surfaces on the difficult greens and try to take the chances when they come.
At the same time, he meant that a key will be to take better advantage of Augusta's four par 5 holes, which offer the greatest chance of making "easy" birdies.
On Friday, Åberg had to settle for par on holes 2, 13, and 15. Eight was the only par 5 hole where it became a birdie.
It's a bit tricky, he says.
I would like to sharpen it a bit, it's clear that the par 5s here are quite important if you want to be in the top. Those who play well often play well on the par 5s too.
Tight at the top
It's a wasp's nest that Ludvig Åberg has ahead of him, where six of the eleven best-placed players have at least one major title on their merit list. Including world number one Scottie Scheffler, world number two Rory McIlroy – who with 66 strokes made Friday's best round – and last year's US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau.
But Scheffler is the only one in the absolute top who has previously won the green jacket on Augusta.
Åberg plays his third round together with another former Masters winner, Hideki Matsuyama. The duo tees off at 19:30, Swedish time.
Here are Saturday's start times, Swedish time, for the best players in the US Masters (results in parentheses).
19:30: Ludvig Åberg, Sweden (–3), Hideki Matsuyama, Japan (–3).
19:50: Jason Day, Australia (–4), Sungjae Im, South Korea (–3).
20:00: Rasmus Højgaard, Denmark (–4), Viktor Hovland, Norway (–4).
20:10: Scottie Scheffler, USA (–5), Tyrrell Hatton, England (–5).
20:20: Matt McCarty, USA (–5), Shane Lowry, Ireland (–5).
20:30: Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland (–6), Corey Conners, Canada (–6).
20:40: Justin Rose, England (–8), Bryson DeChambeau, USA (–7).
