'I Didn't Even Want To Go Have Dinner With Friends' - PGA Tour Winner Details Mental Health Struggles After Moving Into ISCO Championship Contention
Aaron Wise has played a limited schedule since withdrawing from The Masters in 2023 due to his mental health, but the American finds himself in contention going into the weekend of the ISCO Championship
On paper, professional golfers have the best job in the world. Not only are they playing golf for a living, but the best courses in the best conditions.
However, the stress of professional sport can be a severe one, as proven by Aaron Wise, who has had his ups-and-downs during his playing career.
At the age of 21, he was a PGA Tour winner and Rookie of the Year... five years later, he was forced to withdraw from The Masters due to problems with his mental health.
Now though, after limited starts since returning to the circuit, he finds himself in contention at the ISCO Championship, with the American opening up about his issues off the course.
Carding back-to-back rounds of 65 to sit 10-under at the halfway stage, just three back of leader Lucas Glover, Wise stated: "It's been a long journey back and there's been a lot of learning, a lot of growing and a lot of hard work.
"Last week (at the John Deere Classic) was a great step to be in contention. I think Gotterup won in the group ahead of me and the guy in the group behind me finished second, so I felt like I was in that one, too.
"This is just more good golf and another chance to be there on the weekend and learn from it and grow."
Wise claimed victory at the 2018 AT&T Byron Nelson
Withdrawing from The Masters in 2023, Wise returned in May of that year, featuring in just four more tournaments, missing the cut in all but one.
In 2024, he played just one PGA Tour event, the Puerto Rico Open, while he split his time between the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour in 2025, registering a best finish of T39th at the Tulum Championship on the latter circuit.
Revealing that it wasn't "just losing the joy of practicing," that was affecting Wise, he even stated that "I didn't even want to go have dinner with friends. Like I was in a really, really bad place."
He went on to add: "(I) Kind of built that back up first, got to feeling like myself off the golf course and started introducing golf again.
"For a while it was tough because I just wasn't very good after taking all that time off. Slowly kind of got that fire back.
Wise's last top 10 on the PGA Tour came at the CJ Cup in March 2023
"In the beginning, practicing felt like a chore to do. I wasn't so much enjoying it because I wasn't very good.
"It just felt like a lot of work after taking some time off, but now I feel like I'm in a spot where I am enjoying the challenge and enjoying the different days you get out here. Like not every day's the same. Like I said, yesterday I hit it great, today I hit it bad.
"I enjoy going and figuring that out now and trying to have a good weekend.
"People have really understood and been understanding of what I'm going through and very supportive of me getting back.
"I can't thank all the fans enough for being that way because it would be easy to be a different way, but I really appreciate them taking it that way."
