Aaron Wise withdraws from Masters to address mental health

Aaron Wise has confirmed he won’t be playing in this year’s Masters tournament and is instead temporarily stepping away from competitive golf. 

“Regretfully, I am withdrawing from the Masters today,” Wise explained in a post shared on his Instagram story, as mentioned by Patrick McDonald of CBS Sports and other outlets. “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.” 

As noted by Matt Cradock of Golf Monthly, Wise was voted PGA Tour Rookie of the Year for 2017-18, and he won the 2018 AT&T Byron Nelson. However, that remains the 26-year-old’s lone PGA Tour title to date. 

Per Alex Myers of Golf Digest, Wise made his first and only trip to play in the Masters in 2019. He made the cut that year and finished 17th. 

More recently, though, Wise missed the cut in four of his past five stroke-play events and last made the cut for the Honda Classic in February. He then shot a disastrous first-round 80 at the Players Championship earlier this month. 

As of Friday afternoon, Wise was No. 45 in the official PGA Tour rankings. It’s unclear when he may return to the Tour. 

“This hurts, but it’s needed. See you all soon,” Wise captioned his Instagram post.