Aaron Wise breaks 36-hole record at Air Capital Classic

Professional golfers know better than to proclaim destiny and fate are on their side with half a tournament to go.

The golf gods don’t play that game.

But it’s probably OK to wonder if something special is happening this week at Crestview Country Club for Web.com Tour rookie Aaron Wise.

Wise, a year and two weeks removed from winning the NCAA individual title at Oregon, has supplied a daily dose of magic in the 28th Air Capital Classic. After opening the $625,000 tournament with an 8-under-par 62, the 20-year-old Wise duplicated it Friday with eight birdies – including a chip-in on his final hole – to seize the tournament’s 36-hole scoring record at 16-under 124.

Wise, the first-round leader, stretched his advantage to six shots – also a two-round tournament record – over third-year pro Curtis Thompson and South Korean Kyoung-Hoon Lee. Thompson was overshadowed by Wise despite matching the Crestview North course record of 61 to move to 10 under.

“You’ve still got two more rounds, 36 more holes,” said Wise, reluctant to look ahead at the possibility of his first Web.com victory. “There’s so much more golf. I’ve played so many tournaments where you think so far ahead. You can’t do that.”

Wise leads a tournament-record 83 golfers – one more than last year – into Saturday’s third round. The group includes Andrew Putnam, No. 2 on the Web.com money list, and No. 3 Andrew Landry.

Whatever happens over the next two days, Wise’s performance so far is among the best since the Wichita event debuted in 1990. His 36-hole score surpassed the 126 total posted by PGA Tour veteran Scott Piercy when he won in 2008 at Crestview. It also matches the second-lowest two-round total in tour history.

Nobody in Air Capital Classic history has ever posted better back-to-back rounds.

“He’s in his own league right now, so you’ve just got to chase him,” said Thompson, who eagled two of his first five holes Friday en route to his 61. “You just hope you can put up a 4 or 5 under each day on the weekend and maybe put some pressure on him, and he falls back.

“If not, it’s his tournament.”

That seems like a cruel fate for Thompson, who tied for 19th at Crestview last year after opening with a 63. On Friday, he posted the sixth 61 in tournament history and the third at Crestview, equaling 2016 champion Ollie Schniederjans’ third-round effort and the Gavin Coles’ second round in 2006.

But Thompson and others are spotting a huge head start to Wise, who holed out a 90-yard shot for eagle in the first round. The magic continued Friday when Wise’s final shot of the second round – a downwind pitch from the short side of the ninth green – landed softly and tracked into the hole.

“I had a little bit of an upslope for about two yards of the green that I knew I had to land it into,” Wise said. “I pulled it off and it kind of came out just the way I thought it would.

“Even if it missed, it only would’ve gone a foot and a half, two feet by. It was just a good chip and obviously it fell in, so that was a bonus.”

Since winning the NCAA, Wise added a victory on the Mackenzie Tour last summer. He has embarked on swing changes with Jeff Smith, his instructor at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas, and said he made a full commitment to them earlier this season.

“I’ve hit some bad shots while I’m working on it,” said Wise, who is 35th on the Web.com money list. “A good result of that is my short game has gotten better because it had to.

“Now, I’m starting to hit the ball better and the short game is good, so it’s all coming together and obviously, you can see that in the scores.”

This story was originally published June 16, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Aaron Wise breaks 36-hole record at Air Capital Classic."