Aaron Wise beats Marc Leishman to AT&T Byron Nelson Classic trophy: video highlights
Marc Leishman had to settle for second at the AT&T Byron Nelson Classic after a superb, error-free final round for American Aaron Wise.
In the end, 21-year-old Aaron Wise had nerves of a veteran and never flinched on his way to a three-stroke victory over Marc Leishman at the AT&T Byron Nelson Classic in Texas.
Even after Wise took a two-stroke lead at the first hole, courtesy of a birdie and a bogey to Leishman, golf fans were expecting the young American to falter at some point. But despite some pressure from Leishman through the latter stages of the front nine, Wise was never headed and looked in utter control of his own golf game and emotions on his way to his first PGA Tour victory.
Leishman battled hard to force Wise into a mistake in the closing stages but Wise wouldn’t budge. Wise’s final statistics were mind-boggling: 50/56 fairways, 66/72 GIR, 2nd in strokes gained off the tee and 1st in strokes gained from the approach to green.
“Marc played great, really gave me a run for his money. He hit the ball incredible,” Wise said after the round. “I knew he would have a ton of looks. He did. Unfortunately, he didn’t make all the putts and I was able to edge him out.”
Leishman couldn’t get the putter going on the final day that was delayed by four hours due to bad weather and was disappointed with the result.
“At the start of the day I was wanting to win,” Leishman said. “I played with Aaron yesterday, played very well yesterday and he played extremely well today. He holed putts he needed to hole. I didn’t.”
Adam Scott was the next best of the Aussies making up for a poor third round to finish with a bogey-free 6-under par 65 to claim a three-way share of ninth place.
Remarkably, Scott has yet to qualify for the upcoming US Open and needed a two-way share of ninth place or better to sneak inside the world’s top-60 players and an automatic spot at Shinnecock Hills GC, June 11-17.
As it turned out, Scott missed out on that top-60 OWGR spot by decimals places but now has three weeks, and form, to get himself into the top-60 and earn himself a place in his 68th consecutive major championship.