The list of golfers who have won on the PGA Tour before turning 22 is not a lengthy one, but it could expand by one come Sunday evening at the 2018 AT&T Byron Nelson. Aaron Wise, 21, co-leads after 54 holes with Marc Leishman. Both golfers are at 17 under through three rounds and lead Matt Jones and Kevin Na by four.
As unlikely as it was that Webb Simpson would blow a massive seven-stroke lead going into the final round of The Players Championship last week, it might be even more unlikely that Leishman and Wise blow four-stroke leads on the rest of the field.
Wise backed up his 65-63 start to the week with a 3-under 68 on Saturday that included two birdies in his final three holes to momentarily swipe a lead Leishman had held for most of the week before Wise bogeyed the last to fall back into a tie. All of this on the heels of a near-win at the Wells Fargo Championship two weeks ago.
"Going out today, I felt like I had expectations which is crazy because I've only been there once before," Wise told Amanda Balionis of CBS Sports. "I felt like I expected a little bit more of myself. I put a little too much pressure on myself early. Taking that aside, I did great at the back nine and finished at 3 under which is great today."
"Knowing that I've been there and that I've played well," added Wise about what will help him on Sunday. "That was a really cool setting around Quail Hollow with so many people. For me to perform some of the shots I did and play as well as I did down the stretch, just a lot of confidence it gives me going into tomorrow and playing this course. The courses are totally different, but the pressure will be kind of the same. Now that I've been there, I think I'll have a better chance at it."
Leishman is (and should be) the favorite, but don't let that distract you from the possible history coming Wise's way. The former NCAA champion at Oregon has not been the most discussed of a young American contingent overflowing with talent, but he's showed a big time talent over the past few weeks. At the very least, we lose sight of how outrageous it is to win a PGA Tour event at the age of 21 simply because guys who are superstars right now -- Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas among them -- won so much at such a young age.
It bears repeating, though. Winning a professional golf event before turning 22 is an abnormal experience. There is a learning curve of winning on the PGA Tour, and it takes most normal pros 5-10 years to learn it. This is Wise's 26th (!) PGA Tour start. Here's a look at how quickly a few other stars have won.
- Rory McIlroy: 18th event | age: 20
- Jordan Spieth: 24th event | age: 19
- Justin Thomas: 43rd event | age: 22
- Jason Day: 64th event | age: 22
- Rickie Fowler: 73rd event | age: 23
So you can see how rare it is to win with so few starts at such a young age. And who knows, Wise could shoot a 75 tomorrow and finish T13. But he looks locked in after three grinding days in the Texas sun and wind. He'll get a beast in Leishman as they go out together in the afternoon on Sunday, but if he conquers him, the course and the rest of the field, it will be one of the more impressive performances we've seen so far this year and maybe in the last few.
Here are a few more thoughts on Round 3 at the Byron Nelson.
1. Spieth stalls: Jordan Spieth had a chance to get low on Saturday and get within striking distance. Instead, he shot an even-par 71 and lost strokes to the field for the second time in three days (he's currently 72nd out of 75 in that category).
"I'll be patient with it," Spieth said of his putter. "I feel more patient now than I did maybe two months ago. I putted poorly to start the year in Hawaii off of very limited reps going into Hawaii. As it got to Mexico, Tampa, Austin ... Austin is where I figured out I was working the wrong way and had to kind of take a U-turn and it started to get better from there.
"I feel like each week in a four week in a row stretch because you hit more putts, start to recognize where things are in competition, they start to get better. So, I feel like my putting will get better week to week as I move on to this stretch."
2. Course defense: For the first time this week, the average score ballooned over 70 and ended just under par 71. The reason was because the wind whipped a little harder than normal. In the same way most Open Championship courses are only protected by the weather, Trinity Forest is much of the same. It goes both ways, though. Wise hit a 379-yard drive on the 15th hole because he had some wind and used the hard fairways to his advantage, but the par 3s and second shots on Sunday are going to get interesting if we see the wind jump any more than it did on Saturday (which, to be fair, wasn't a ton).
3. The greatest fan: I cannot stop watching this. It is the moment of the week.