LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Golf can be a lonely profession.
The airports blur together. The hotels all look about the same. The practice ranges become familiar.
Aaron Wise knows that life. He also knows another one.
On Saturday afternoon at Hurstbourne Country Club, as he walked off the 18th green one shot off the lead at the ISCO Championship, his wife was carrying his golf bag.
Not a Tour veteran. Not one of the caddies players chase after because they've won majors.
His wife.
The one who, a year ago, didn't know much about caddying. The one who now knows enough. More important, the one who knows him.
"It's someone I feel like I can trust and just enjoy spending my time out there with," Wise said Saturday. "As time has gone on, people have been trying to get me to get a caddie and I've been wanting to get a caddie, but honestly, she's been doing such a good job.
Reagan Wise removes the flag as Aaron Wise assesses a putt on the ninth green during the third round of the ISCO Championship at Hurstbourne Country Club.
"She lets me just focus on the golf side of things. She takes care of everything else that a normal caddie would. And then I have my best friend on the bag with me."
Golf fans have seen Reagan Wise before — then Reagan Trussell — on the 18th green at the 2018 AT&T Byron Nelson, when she secretly flew in to surprise Aaron and was there for what turned out to be his first PGA Tour victory. Television cameras caught what looked like an awkward missed kiss. She never saw him leaning in.
They laughed about it afterward.
It was the breakthrough of a career that looked destined for stardom. Wise had already won the 2016 NCAA individual title at Oregon. That Byron Nelson win made him the Tour's Rookie of the Year, one of the game's brightest young players, at 21.
Eight years later, Reagan is still there when the round ends. The only difference is she's carrying the bag now.
That part is easy to smile about. The part underneath it isn't.
Because there was a time when Aaron Wise wasn't enjoying much of anything.
He walked away from the PGA Tour in 2023, withdrawing from the Masters days before it began, to focus on his mental health. Golf wasn't the only thing he'd lost.
"It wasn't even just losing the joy of practicing," he said this week. "It was off-the-course life. I just didn't feel like myself."
He didn't rebuild the golfer first. He rebuilt the man. Only then did golf come back.
So did the joy.
But it took some time. He didn't return until February of last year. And when he did, it was Reagan at his side. Literally.
"There was a lot of times I never knew if I would even be able to play out here again," he said Saturday. "So to have that opportunity is amazing."
That's not the kind of thing you usually hear from somebody one shot off the lead heading into Sunday of a PGA Tour event.
Most players are talking about their swing. Wise is talking about getting to have a swing at all.
People still ask why he hasn't hired a Tour caddie. He smiles. Professional golf says he should. Life says he already has the person he needs.
"She's definitely someone I'll lean on tomorrow," he said, "just to keep me present, keep me in the moment and have fun no matter what's going on."
There are plenty of ways to measure a comeback.
Birdies. FedExCup points. Trophies.
Aaron Wise has another one.
Tomorrow they'll chase a tournament together.
She may not know all the yardages yet.
More important, she knows him.
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