Playing as a single, Aaron Wise caught fire with the flat stick en route to a bogey-free, 5-under 65 on day one of the TOUR Championship, vaulting him into contention after starting the week 10 shots off the lead via the starting strokes format.
Wise opened his day with a 16'7" putt to save par and that would be the theme of the day. He rolled in seven more putts from outside of seven feet before his day was over, walking off the course ranked 1st in strokes gained putting. “I don’t think I’ve ever played as a single in a tournament. It was different. It was interesting to start. I felt a little weird starting off the round, but once I settled in there walking to 3 tee or so, felt pretty normal, honestly felt kind of nice because I could go at my own pace and do what I wanted. But definitely pros and cons to it because you don’t get to see anyone else’s shots, you don’t get to see anyone else’s putts or anything like that. Luckily I was having a good day, and just kind of stayed in my groove and stayed to myself, and it worked out well.” Wise is still seven shots off the pace at press time but he’s eaten into the lead a little and currently T10 on the live leaderboard.