Wise, Noren far from content in Houston Open

HOUSTON – Based off Aaron Wise’s attitude following his opening 18 holes, one would’ve thought he performed poorly during the first round of the Cadence Bank Houston Open.

He was less than enthralled after his round at Memorial Park Golf Course on Thursday, which was a brilliant bogeyfree 5-under 65 to take the lead following the morning wave. Wise, whose lone PGA Tour win came in the state of Texas at the AT&T Byron Nelson in 2017, is tied with Alex Noren, Tony Finau and Tyson Alexander at the top.

“I’ve just been in a weird place with my game where I’m obviously playing well enough to shoot good scores, but there’s just a couple shots a round that are frustrating me,” Wise said. “Maybe it’s also just because it’s late in the season and I played too much golf, and that’s just kind of how golf gets.

“I have time to go clean some stuff up before the round tomorrow and hopefully play a little more solid, even though I would take the score again if you would give it to me.”

The first round was suspended because of darkness at 5:36 p.m. local time. The groups that didn’t finish will complete their rounds early Friday.

The highlight for Wise came on holes No. 3-6, when he recorded four straight birdies to move to 5 under. He started on No. 10, making seven pars before a birdie on the par-3 17th.

“I had a couple great saves to shoot bogey-free,” Wise said. “Sometimes you shoot bogey-free and you hit 18 greens, and it was just an easy round. Today, it was bogey-free on the card, but it didn’t feel stress-free.”

For Noren, his round started and ended the same way: with a birdie. He also started on the 10th hole, where he stuffed his approach shot inside 6 feet for a circle on the scorecard. He then had four birdies in five holes to begin his second nine after a bogey on the first, and Noren capitalized his day with a great tee shot on the par-3 ninth, drilling an 8-foot birdie to get to 5 under.

Noren has 11 international victories but none on the PGA Tour.

Alexander is a part of the group tied for the lead, though he hasn’t finished his first round. He will start from the rough left of the 18th fairway with a 197-yard shot left for his second on the

par-4 closing hole.