AUSTIN, Texas – Aaron Wise made just three pars Wednesday and somehow survived to the 17th hole.
The reigning PGA Tour Rookie of the Year went down to Tiger Woods, 3 and 1, in the opening round of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
He fell 2 down through two and played his first four holes in 4 over before settling down with back-to-back birdies at Nos. 5 and 6. From there, he looked like he was going to storm back and pull the upset. He flipped the match with three straight wins at Nos. 8-10.
“Overall, I wish I could have gotten off to a better start,” he said. “I got off to a pretty sour start, put myself in a hole early. I fought back. I got to 1 up at one point in the match and had it going.”
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He had Woods on the ropes at the par-3 11th and appeared very much on the verge of going 2 up. But Woods pulled off a surprising up and down, and Wise followed up with a three-putt. Rather going up two, he found himself level again.
A clutch birdie putt at the 12th made it seem as though Wise was going to keep pushing Woods, but it was at the par-4 13th that he made his crucial mistake, spinning his approach shot into the water.
“I thought it was a great wedge shot there on 13,” he said. “And the wind was supposed to be about 2 [o’clock] and it switched to about 12:30 and [the ball] spun back in the water. That was a big momentum change for the match, if I had to put it on one point.”
It was the start of a three-bogey run that left him 2 down with two to play and saw him concede the match to Woods on the 17th green.
Wise played his final nine holes Wednesday with four birdies and five bogeys.
Source: Internet
