Missing dinner with friends may not seem like a big deal, but for Aaron Wise, it showed how much he was struggling at the time.

On July 11, 2026, the PGA Tour shared a video on X in which Aaron Wise talked about returning to competitive golf after taking nearly two years away to focus on his mental health.

"I just didn't feel like myself. I didn't even want to go have dinner with friends. I was in a really, really bad place," Wise said, recalling that period.

According to the July 10 X post by PGA Tour, Wise stepped away from golf in 2023 to focus on his mental health. He withdrew from the Masters before the tournament began. In an Instagram post, he said he had been struggling with the mental side of the game.

After that, he played only four more PGA Tour events in 2023, one PGA Tour event in 2024, and 12 events across the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour in 2025.

The 29-year-old American, who was born in South Africa, won the 2018 AT&T Byron Nelson in just his 26th PGA Tour start. He later reached a career-high world ranking of No. 33 and was named the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.

His 2026 season started slowly. The John Deere Classic was his seventh PGA Tour start of the year and his first made cut of the season. The Barracuda Championship has pushed his results further in the right direction.

He tied for fourth at the Barracuda Championship, his best result since a T39 finish at the John Deere Classic last week. Wise is now among the top five heading into the weekend for the 2026 PGA Tour ISCO Championship.

Aaron Wise on what the return has actually felt like

Speaking in the same PGA Tour video, Wise described where he is now, in terms of his mental health and his outlook towards the sport.

"Slowly kind of got that fire back," he said. "Now I feel like I'm in a spot where I am enjoying the challenge and enjoying the different days you get."

He explained that the recovery hasn't been linear. Early on, practice felt like a chore and the results weren't there. Getting back to competitive form after stepping away required significant work at home before returning to Tour events.

After opening with rounds of 66 and 64 to move into contention at the ISCO Championship, Wise reflected on his return after nearly two years away from top-level golf. He said he was grateful to be competing again at the level he always believed he could reach. 

Before taking a break from golf, Wise had shown a lot of promise. He played 140 PGA Tour events, made 86 cuts, finished runner-up three times, and recorded 12 more top-10 finishes.

His best season came in 2018, when he won the AT&T Byron Nelson, tied for second at the Wells Fargo Championship, and finished 24th in the FedEx Cup standings.

Aaron Wise walked away from the Masters in 2023. Three years on, is this the comeback story of the year?

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Written by

Sneha Abraham

Edited by

Arundhoti Palit