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The Desert Classic: Power ranking the top 10 golfers at PGA West

By Mike Randleman

LA QUINTA, CA - JANUARY 21: The group of Andrew Landry, Austin Cook and Martin Piller walk up the fairway during the final round of the CareerBuilder Challenge at the TPC Stadium Course at PGA West on January 21, 2018 in La Quinta, California. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
LA QUINTA, CA - JANUARY 21: The group of Andrew Landry, Austin Cook and Martin Piller walk up the fairway during the final round of the CareerBuilder Challenge at the TPC Stadium Course at PGA West on January 21, 2018 in La Quinta, California. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images) /
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LA QUINTA, CA – JANUARY 18: Aaron Wise plays his shot out of the bunker on the ninth hole during the first round of the CareerBuilder Challenge at La Quinta Country Club on January 18, 2018 in La Quinta, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
LA QUINTA, CA – JANUARY 18: Aaron Wise plays his shot out of the bunker on the ninth hole during the first round of the CareerBuilder Challenge at La Quinta Country Club on January 18, 2018 in La Quinta, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images) /

Aaron Wise is a winner at every level he’s played. In 2016 as a collegian at Oregon, Wise won the NCAA individual title and helped the Ducks to the team title. That same year, he won his first pro event on the Mackenzie Tour in Canada. Then came a win on the Web.com Tour in 2017 and, sure enough, a win last year at the Byron Nelson. What’s next? A WGC? A major?

Those are lofty expectations for the 22-year-old, but he’s talented enough to achieve either.

He is one of the more talented players in the Desert Classic field and will be playing this event for the third time. He debuted in 2017 with a T34 (68-68-71-72) and improved for a T17 last year (64-69-72-68).

Wise likely felt pretty good going into the offseason as his T10 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in November was his fourth straight top-20 to close out 2018.

Wise has the all-around game to win on most course types. He’s in the positive in all the main strokes gained categories including 27th off the tee. It certainly doesn’t hurt that he was 12th in birdie average, either.

If rust isn’t a factor, a fresh Aaron Wise against a field consisting of a lot of players trekking from the Sony Open in Hawaii makes for an intriguing pick this week.

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