AARON SHOWS HE’S WISE BEYOND HIS YEARS

Rookie keeps his cool in windy condition for a share of the lead

DALLAS: The wind finally blew on the new Trinity Forest course at the AT&T Byron Nelson golf tournament.

Aaron Wise wasn’t rattled, not even by a bogey that dropped him into a tie for the lead on the final hole on Saturday. Now the 21-yearold PGA Tour rookie is ready for another run at his first victory.

Wise shot a three-under 68 to pull even with Marc Leishman, four shots ahead of Matt Jones and Kevin Na going into the final round.

It’s not the first time Wise has been in this position, though. Two weeks ago, he finished tied for second at the Wells Fargo Championship, two shots behind Jason Day.

Besides, Wise has won at every level – including the 2016 NCAA individual title while helping Oregon win the team championship just before turning pro. He was the first player in eight years to pull that NCAA double.

“There’s a little more pressure on it because there’s more people and it’s a bigger scene, but I felt like I did a great job of handling all that at Quail Hollow,” Wise said.

“Being my second chance at it, I feel like it’s only going to be better than that.”

Leishman shot 69 after setting a 36-hole tournament record previously shared by Tiger Woods. The 34-year-old Australian had a careerbest 61 in the opening round.

Hometown star Jordan Spieth couldn’t make a move from eight shots back, shooting par 71 and falling 10 strokes behind.

Wind gusted above 25mph at times after two rounds of calmer conditions and lower scores on the treeless, links-style layout a few miles south of downtown Dallas. The Nelson spent the previous 35 years at a more conventional venue in suburban Irving.

One illustration of the struggle came late with the strong crosswind at the par-four 18th, where five of the top six on the leaderboard had bogey or worse.

Na (69) and Jones (68) had to settle for 13-under. Jimmy Walker shot 70 with a double bogey on the final hole that dropped him to 12-under, with Brian Gay, who bogeyed 18 for a 72.

Wise played in more wind than Leishman and most of the other leaders on Friday when it kicked up in the afternoon, and still said Saturday’s conditions were significantly different. And he still said it was fun.

“I love playing really firm golf courses because it brings a lot of thinking in,” Wise said. “I didn’t have quite as many drivers as I had the last couple of days because it was firmer.”

With one notable exception: his 402-yard drive on the downwind par-four ninth. All Wise had left was a flip wedge on the 504-yard hole, and he made the 11-foot putt.

“It’s pretty cool to be able to make decisions like that and kind of use my advantage, which is my driving when I can,” he said.

“But you still got to play safe. This course has enough teeth where you can’t just bomb driver everywhere.”

Spieth was hoping for the teeth on one of his home courses, but couldn’t take advantage of his experience with it. The Dallas native even admitted he’s still struggling to figure out the greens.

The 24-year-old had three birdies and three bogeys and is in danger of going another year without surpassing his best Nelson finish – a tie for 16th when he was a 16-year-old high school junior in 2010. — AP