Top 30 Playes to Watch in 2019: No. 27, Aaron Wise

The 2019-20 PGA TOUR season is upon us, with the first round teeing off Thursday at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier in West Virginia, making its debut as the season opener on the schedule. Making its debut as the season opener on the schedule, the 156-man Greenbrier field is loaded with rookies set to make a big splash. Kevin Na is the defending champ, having won the Greenbrier when it was last played as part of the 2017-18 season. FIELD NOTES: The highest-ranked golfer from the 2019 FedExCup standings is Bryson DeChambeau, who finished 12th. … Rookie Viktor Hovland will make his debut as a full-fledged PGA TOUR member after earning a TOUR card via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. Hovland notched four straight top-20 finishes to end last season, including a fourth at the Wyndham Championship. … Past champions Stuart Appleby, Danny Lee, Ted Potter Jr., and Scott Stallings will join Na in the field. … Major winners Zach Johnson, Bubba Watson, Jason Dufner, Jimmy Walker, Keegan Bradley and John Daly also are teeing it up. … Scottie Scheffler, who topped both The Finals 25 Points List and the combined (The 25) Points List on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019, is in the field. Scheffler is the lone golfer fully exempt on the PGA TOUR due solely to his play on the Korn Ferry Tour this year. … Tom Lewis, who won the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing and Finance, will make his debut as a PGA TOUR member this week. … Sungjae Im, the only rookie to reach the TOUR Championship last season, is making the first of his six planned starts in the next eight weeks. … Air Force Captain Kyle Westmoreland – who Monday Qualified for an event on the Korn Ferry Tour this summer – received a sponsor exemption. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points. COURSE: The Old White TPC (7,286 yards, par 70). Has been the host venue since the inaugural Greenbrier in 2010. STORYLINES: Due to the condensed nature of the new PGA TOUR schedule, A Military Classic at The Greenbrier is unveiling its new date, moving from July to September. … Players who hope to make this year’s Presidents Cup as a captain’s pick for either Tiger Woods’ U.S. Team or Ernie Els’ International Team certainly want to play well this week. Keep a close eye on Americans such as Na, Watson and Bradley, and Internationals such as Im and Branden Grace . … Making an early move in the FedExCup standings also is key, especially with 11 events schedule for this fall. Last season, 75% of the winners in the fall advanced to the TOUR Championship, the highest percentage in the last six seasons … This will be the first tournament using the TOUR’s adjusted cut line of top 65 and ties … The 2019 edition of the tournament marks the 10th playing of the event… No 54-hole leader has gone on to win the title Sunday, as Kelly Kraft (the 2018 third-round leader) shot even par Sunday to lose by five to Kevin Na. 72-HOLE RECORD: 258, Stuart Appleby (2010) 18-HOLE RECORD: 59, Stuart Appleby (4th round, 2010) LAST TIME: It had been seven years since Na had found the winner’s circle on the PGA TOUR, but he fired a near flawless Sunday round to notch his second career TOUR victory at the Greenbrier in 2018. He would go on to finish 28th in the FedExCup standings and make The TOUR Championship for just the second time in his career. Na was emotional following his victory, thanking all those who had supported him in his long journey back to the top of a PGA TOUR leaderboard. He rode those good vibes into 2019, too, and won the Charles Schwab Challenge – his second victory in just 10 months. Kelly Kraft held the 54-hole lead but stalled Sunday shooting even par and ended up five shots back of Na’s win. Brandt Snedeker finished T3, his best result on the PGA TOUR in almost two years. After matching Na with a Sunday 66, Snedeker would parlay that finish into a victory at the Wyndham Championship the following month. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 2 p.m.–6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 3 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel) PGA TOUR Live: Thursday-Friday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m. ET (featured groups) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. ET. Saturday-Sunday 1 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio)

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To help fit his golf swing, Rahm prefers to have a bit more loft on his clubs. For example, his 10.5-degree Callaway Rogue ST Triple Diamond LS driver head has 11.2 degrees of actual measured loft, which is much higher than most of his contemporaries. When it comes to his fairway woods, Rahm uses Callaway Rogue ST Triple Diamond “T” prototype heads (16.5 and 18 degrees) that have slightly deeper faces and more rounded soles to help Rahm find more consistent turf interaction on his relatively steep impact conditions. The higher-lofted fairway woods help Rahm achieve the necessary height and spin to hold greens on his approach shots into par 5s. When he isn’t relying on his 5-wood, Rahm keeps a custom Callaway X Forged UT raw driving iron (22 degrees) around for different course setups and conditions. If he needs an option that flies a bit lower to penetrate the wind, the driving iron comes in handy versus a 5-wood, which flies a bit higher with more spin. Also, according to a recent WITB video with Callaway Golf, Rahm uses Apex TCB irons with relatively weak lofts. This allows Rahm to “deloft” the head through impact when he desires, and he doesn’t need to worry about hitting the ball too low, or long. Another interesting way that Rahm keeps his ball striking consistent from year-to-year is that he doesn’t often change up his golf shafts. For example, Rahm has been using the same Aldila Tour Green shafts in his driver and 3-wood since around 2013, and Project X 6.5 steel iron shafts for more than a decade. This allows Rahm to eliminate variables, so even when he switches to a new head, he already has a level of familiarity with how the club performs. As for his flatstick, Rahm has been using an Odyssey White Hot OG Rossie putter with no sightlines on the crown (although he did switch it out briefly in 2022). According to Rahm, he prefers no alignment lines or dots because he says he aligns it better that way “99 percent of the time,” per Callaway’s WITB video. Below, we take a look at all the clubs in Rahm’s bag. It should be noted that Rahm carries 15 clubs, and he decides between his custom Callaway X Forged UT driving iron and Rogue ST Triple Diamond T 5-wood, depending on course conditions and layout. Look out for Rahm in this week’s Mexico Open at Vidanta, where he’s the top-ranked player in the field. Driver: Callaway Rogue ST Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees, 11.2 degrees of actual loft) Shaft: Aldilda Tour Green 75TX (45.25 inches, tipped 1 inch) 3-wood: Callaway Rogue ST Triple Diamond T HL (16.5 degrees, 15.2 degrees of actual loft) Shaft: Aldila Tour Green 85TX (43.25 inches, tipped 1.5 inches) 5-wood: Callaway Rogue ST Triple Diamond T (18 degrees, 17.9 degrees of actual loft) Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD-DI Black 8X (42 inches, tipped 2 inches) Irons: Callaway X Forged UT 2021 (22 degrees, 20.5 degrees of actual loft), Callaway Apex TCB (4-PW) Shafts: Project X 6.5 Wedges: Callaway Jaws Forged (52, 56 and 60 degrees) Shafts: Project X 6.5 Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG Rossie S (37 inches) Ball: Callaway Chrome Soft X Jon Rahm, a six-time PGA TOUR winner and the reigning U.S. Open champion, is one of the premier ball strikers in the game. The second-ranked player in the world, Rahm leads the PGA TOUR in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and Greens in Regulation (73.5%), is second in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and 11th in Driving Distance (313.9 yards). What separates Rahm from the competition is his uniquely short, consistent and powerful golf swing that’s partly the result of a physical limitation. He also swings the club with a bowed left wrist, which results in a slightly lower ball flight than other PGA TOUR players.

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