Las Vegan Aaron Wise finds his stroke on PGA Tour

Las Vegas resident Aaron Wise ended 2020 with his best finish on the PGA Tour in 31 months.

Wise shot a final-round 63 at the Mayakoba Classic, vaulting him to second place for his best finish on the tour since an unlikely win in his rookie year at the 2018 Byron Nelson Classic.

It was a nice way to end the year for Wise, who has struggled since that victory in Texas. But on Sunday, he didn’t play or act like a struggling golfer.

“It’s just something that I’ve always kind of had,” Wise said Sunday of his calm demeanor in the thick of the chase. “I don’t know if it’s from when I grew up or my childhood or what, but when I’ve won in college or at the Mackenzie Tour or the Web.com Tour and then out here, it’s just kind of been a calming feeling.”

Wise had a share of the lead over the closing holes, but he finished one shot shy when Viktor Hovland birdied the 72nd hole for the win.

“If I’m ever going to be nervous, I’m kind of nervous starting my round off because I don’t know what to expect,” Wise said. “But once I get in the flow of the round, I feel like I’m able to keep myself calm and just go from there.”

Wise was 21 when he caught fire for two weeks in May in his rookie season. He tied for second behind Jason Day at the Wells Fargo Championship on the difficult Quail Hollow Club course in Charlotte, North Carolina, then won the following week in Dallas at Trinity Forest Golf Club.

But he missed the cut in his next five starts, finished no higher than 10th in 21 starts the following season and made just six cuts in the 2019-20 season.

Things began to improve as the new season began this fall. He tied for 17th in Mississippi in October and 11th in Houston in November. Then came Mayakoba, where he flirted with win No. 2 and had birdie putts of 12 and 14 feet on the final two holes.

“I hit every shot basically as good as I could hit it,” Wise said of the closing round. “I just wasn’t able to get one to drop on those last couple.”

It’s no shame to lose to Hovland, part of the new wave of stars on the tour. Eighteen months ago, Hovland, Collin Morikawa and Matthew Wolff were still in college. Fast forward to today, and they have six wins — including a major — among them, and all are ranked in the top 15 in the world.

Chip shots

— The LPGA is playing well into December, starting this week with the U.S. Women’s Open — six months late — in Houston.

The calendar and chilly weather won’t be the only thing different about this year’s event. For the first time, the tournament will be played on two courses, as the USGA attempts to play a full-field, 156-player event with a 5:15 p.m. sunset. The Cypress Creek and Jackrabbit courses will be used for the first two rounds at Champions Golf Club. The final two rounds will be played on Cypress Creek.

— Gov. Steve Sisolak’s new restrictions on tournaments because of the coronavirus pandemic forced two local events set for this month to change dates. The SNGA Tour Championship, which was to be played over the weekend at Las Vegas National, has been moved to Jan. 14. The same is true for the SNGA Winter Classic, which was moved from this week to Jan 7-10 at Cascata Golf Club in Boulder City.

— The inaugural Birdies for Good event last week at Eagle Crest Golf Course raised more than $31,000 for the Southern Nevada Chapter of the PGA Foundation and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Las Vegas.

Greg Robertson is a freelance reporter who covers golf for the Review-Journal. He can be reached at robertsongt@gmail.com.