‘Was harmful for me to be out here': Tour pro opens up on mental health

Aaron Wise, who has appeared sparingly on the PGA Tour since withdrawing from the 2023 Masters due to his mental health, says it had been “harmful” for him to be playing.

Appearing on CBS on Saturday after his third round at the John Deere Classic, Wise had been asked by reporter Amanda Balionis how he’d frame his weekend and his journey. He had just finished a round of four-under 67 at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill.,, and Sunday, he’ll start five strokes back of the leaders.

“Yeah, it’s been long and difficult, and like you said, I’ve done a lot of great things in the game, but I was in a place where it was harmful for me to be out here and playing,” Wise said. “Like I wasn’t myself. I wasn’t enjoying it anymore and took a step back and met some great people along the way who helped me with my journey.

“And you know, feel a lot calmer, feel a lot like I can enjoy it a little bit more being out here. There’s always going to be stress and tough things associated with being a professional golfer, but now I feel like I kind of have tools on how to handle that and a better mindset overall.”

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The 2016 NCAA champion, Wise won the 2018 Byron Nelson event in just his 26th PGA Tour start, and later that year, he was voted PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. He has been ranked as high as 33rd in the world, but in 2023, he withdrew from the Masters just days before the start of the major, posting the following note on his Instagram account, along with the words: “This hurts, but it’s needed. See you soon”:

“Golf is just as much a mental game as it is one of physical skill, and the mental piece of it has been a struggle for me recently. I don’t take the significance of playing at Augusta lightly, but know that I need to take some time away to focus on my mental health so I can get back to competing at a level I am proud of.”

For the rest of 2023, Wise played in just four more tournaments, then played in one PGA Tour event in 2024 and seven PGA Tour and five Korn Ferry Tour events last year. This week is his seventh PGA Tour start of the season, and it’s his first made cut of 2026.

“It’s been tough coming back,” Wise said on CBS. “Taking almost two years off was a long time, and it definitely made me appreciate how good I was at golf and how much work it takes to be good out here. And slowly getting back into that and being able to handle the stress of not even out here at tournaments, but just putting in the long days at home that it takes to be really good and then coming out here and doing it out here. …

“I haven’t played a whole lot. It’s been a lot of work at home trying to get the game ready to be out here, feel like I am sharp enough to compete out here. And I feel like I’m slowly turning over those leaves. You know, I thought the process would be a lot quicker than it has been. It’s been a lot longer than I thought, but it’s been super fulfilling and I’ve really enjoyed the work again, which is something I wasn’t doing when I decided to step away.”

On Sunday at the John Deere Classic, Wise will start tied for 12th. Should that stand, it would be his highest finish on the PGA Tour since he finished sixth in October of 2022 at the CJ Cup tournament.

“I remember like it was yesterday he turned pro,” analyst Frank Nobilo said on CBS. “He was 20 years of age. Two years later, he won Byron Nelson. And he just looked like he had this unbridled talent.

“It’s a great story. I’m glad it’s been told.”

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