Golf

Aaron Wise takes first PGA Tour win at Byron Nelson

The 21-year-old made six birdies to card a round of six-under 65 and win by three

Dusk falls as Aaron Wise celebrates on the 18th green after winning the AT&T Byron Nelson at Trinity Forest Golf Club. Photo: Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Mon May 21 2018 - 06:32

Aaron Wise has claimed his first PGA Tour victory with a bogey-free final round at the the AT&T Byron Nelson in Dallas.

The 21-year-old made six birdies to card a round of six-under 65, finishing three shots ahead of second-place Marc Leishman on 23-under overall — and claiming a new tournament record.

Australia’s Leishman — who produced a stunning opening round of 61 — shot 68 on day four, recovering from a bogey on the second hole to make an eagle on the par-four fifth, before two further wayward shots gave him bogeys on the 10th and 15th holes.

Wise, who shared a four-shot lead with Leishman heading into the final round, continued to pull away from his opponent on a day hit by a four-hour weather delay, with four birdies in a row on holes seven to 10.

READ MORE

In a video posted on the PGA Tour Twitter page, he told a press conference: “It was awesome, everything I dreamed of. It was incredible. Marc played great, really gave me a run for his money. He hit the ball incredible. I knew he would have a ton of looks from hole three on, and he did. Unfortunately, he didn’t make all the putts and I was able to edge him out.

“It was just a great day for me. I came out really solid. I’ve been hitting the ball amazingly all week and that continued today.

“And I was able to finally get the putter hot in the middle stretch of that round and birdieing seven through 10 really set me apart because I looked at the leaderboard there on eight green and realised that a lot of people were making an early charge and I knew I needed to kind of separate myself and I was able to do that because my putter got hot and to walk up 18 knowing I kind of had it locked up was pretty cool.

“I don’t think many people get to do that their first win. It was truly special for me to be able to take in the crowd like that.”

Branden Grace fired a round of 62 — to match his lowest career best — and finish in joint third with JJ Spaun and Keith Mitchell, who both got round the final day in 63 and ended on 19-under overall.

World number three Jordan Spieth struggled to make an impact on his home-town tournament, the Texan shooting 67, which included two bogeys and six birdies, to be tied for 21st on 11-under overall alongside defending champion Billy Horschel.

Scot Russell Knox finished in joint 16th on 12-under and Englishman Brian Davis dropped to 73rd on the leaderboard on one-over.

Collated final round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour AT&T Byron Nelson, Trinity Forest Golf Club, Irving, Texas, United States of America (USA unless stated, par 71):

261 Aaron Wise 65 63 68 65

264 Marc Leishman (Aus) 61 66 69 68

265 Branden Grace (Rsa) 66 68 69 62, Keith Mitchell 65 68 69 63, J.J. Spaun 64 69 69 63

268 Kevin Na 66 65 69 68, Ryan Blaum 66 69 67 66, Jimmy Walker 64 67 70 67

269 Adam Scott (Aus) 67 65 72 65, Kevin Tway 67 65 70 67, Charles Howell III 69 69 65 66

270 Brian Gay 67 62 72 69

271 Ethan Tracy 65 72 67 67, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 66 70 69 66, Matt Jones (Aus) 67 65 68 71

272 Joel Dahmen 67 68 68 69, Derek Fathauer 70 67 66 69, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 72 63 71 66, Russell Knox (Sco) 69 69 68 66, Bronson Burgoon 69 68 67 68

273 Peter Uihlein 65 70 69 69, Robert Garrigus 66 69 71 67, Martin Piller 69 63 71 70, Billy Horschel 68 69 69 67, Jordan Spieth 69 66 71 67

274 JT Poston 68 69 68 69, Shawn Stefani 68 66 69 71, Martin Flores 70 67 68 69, Parker McLachlin 71 67 70 66, Tyler Duncan 65 73 68 68, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 68 67 72 67

275 Beau Hossler 70 68 73 64, Nate Lashley 67 71 73 64, Scott Piercy 70 66 68 71, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 69 67 70 69, Cody Gribble 71 67 68 69, Fabian Gomez (Arg) 69 69 73 64, Nicholas Lindheim 66 69 68 72, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 67 71 70 67, Johnson Wagner 67 68 71 69, Nick Taylor (Can) 69 68 69 69

276 Brian Stuard 71 67 71 67, Andrew Putnam 68 69 74 65, Sam Ryder 70 68 71 67, Sung Kang (Kor) 68 68 67 73, Eric Axley 66 65 77 68, Abraham Ancer (Mex) 65 69 73 69, Denny McCarthy 71 66 69 70, Maverick McNealy 68 67 71 70, J.B. Holmes 69 69 72 66, Zac Blair 67 71 68 70, Jonathan Byrd 65 73 70 68

277 Ben Crane 68 68 72 69, Patrick Rodgers 67 67 76 67, Troy Merritt 67 68 70 72, Steve Wheatcroft 70 67 71 69, Robert Streb 69 69 75 64, Corey Conners (Can) 69 69 73 66

278 Adam Schenk 70 68 71 69, Peter Malnati 69 66 73 70, Michael Thompson 71 65 74 68, Hudson Swafford 70 64 76 68, Vaughn Taylor 68 64 73 73, Ryan Armour 66 71 71 70, Dominic Bozzelli 67 71 71 69

279 T.J Vogel 66 71 73 69, Roberto Diaz (Mex) 70 68 70 71, Matt Atkins 69 67 71 72

280 Sang-moon Bae (Kor) 67 71 70 72

281 Cameron Percy (Aus) 67 69 75 70, Tom Lovelady 66 70 74 71, Rod Pampling (Aus) 70 68 73 70

283 Brian Davis (Eng) 69 68 73 73

285 Mark Wilson 68 66 80 71

286 Robert Allenby (Aus) 70 67 75 74