This kid is good — really good.
No surprise down there in rain-soaked Dallas. No surprise that this cool, calm and collected 21-year-old named Aaron Wise made it look pretty easy Sunday on Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore’s linksy puzzle that surprised a lot of guys.
It was no surprise that Wise won by three over a pretty decent veteran in the form of Marc Leishman. Tied at the day’s delayed start, four hours to be exact, Wise took the lead after Leishman three-putted at the second hole and never looked back.
The lead just kept getting bigger, Wise hitting it long, straight and putting quite well. That sort of formula will earn you a lot of wins over a career on this tour — ask anyone.
On top of all that talent, Wise is extremely smart, thought about law as a career path when he was at the University of Oregon.
It didn’t take long after leading his team to an NCAA championship and winning the individual crown that he thought better of that barrister stuff and figured golf might not be a bad path to pursue — especially when you hit it and putt it like he hits it and putts it.
His coach at Oregon, Casey Martin, is bullish on Wise. “He’s cerebral, intelligent,” Martin said. Martin, who played at Stanford and later briefly on the PGA Tour, knows talent.
But it doesn’t take an expert eye to see that Wise may be special — very special. He’s won at every level — college, the Canadian Tour, the Web.com Tour and now the PGA Tour.
He came close three week ago at the Wells Fargo on a big-boy course at Quail Hollow. Took a world-class effort from a world-class player in the form of Jason Day to relegate Wise to a runner-up finish in that huge event.
Wise didn’t get to tee it up at The Players — too bad, has the perfect game for that track. Doesn’t matter, he’s in everything now — every major, every big invitational and on his way to those WGC events.
If you have watched him go runner-up/win in his last two events, you’ve seen a shot-maker, a good decision maker and a guy who knew how to get it around Trinity Forest — Texas’ answer to a links course. It left a lot of guys scratching their heads, including Jordan Spieth, who happens to be a member at the club.
It’s a great change from the TPC Las Colinas and Wise is a breath of fresh air on this tour.
He made it look easy. The only question Sunday was whether they could finish before darkness fell over the Dallas area.
They got in despite the fact that they waited all day on Kevin “Molasses” Na, playing right in front of them.
Didn’t bother Wise. He sent a front nine message to Leishman and the rest with five birdies, including three straight starting at the seventh. He then made it four-in-a-row with another at the 10th.
That’s all he needed to shoot 65 and 23-under, sending Leishman (20-under) into second.
“It’s amazing, this is huge,” said Wise, who has only started in 26 events on the regular tour and is the second youngest to win the Nelson. Youngest was a guy named Woods, as in Tiger.
“I’m in the majors, in the playoffs,” said the 21-year-old who was all smiles. “It’s pretty incredible to get this win.”
Incredible? Maybe. Surprising? Not at all.
At the end of the day, he came armed with something special and he told everyone what it was:
“A ton of self-belief.”
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what it takes to be a winner.
