Aaron Wise shot a 6-under 65 on Sunday to get to 23 under at the 2018 AT&T Byron Nelson. He staved off Marc Leishman (-20) and a host of others at 19 under to win for the first time in his career on the PGA Tour in just his 26th start.

Wise hit 50 of 56 of Trinity Forest's wide fairways and 66 of 72 greens in regulation, and he used his driver like a weapon all weekend, finishing first in the field on Sunday in strokes gained off the tee. His bogey-free final round capped just the third win by a rookie this season, and he became the second-youngest winner of this tournament to ... Tiger Woods (1997).

Tiger, by the way, is a pretty good place to start. Woods won his 19th start on the PGA Tour, and it took Wise just seven more than that. I'm, of course, not insinuating that Wise is going to have anything close to the career Woods has had, but there's a lot of buzz about the former Oregon Duck and what his future is going to entail.  

Wise, age 21, came in with a good pedigree and left with a better one. He joins the likes of Woods, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth as golfers to win in their first 30 starts on the PGA Tour in the last few decades. This is not a comprehensive list, but it contextualizes what it means for a 21-year old to earn a PGA Tour victory, no matter how weak the field is, at his age.

  • Rory McIlroy: 18th event | age: 20
  • Jordan Spieth: 24th event | age: 19
  • Justin Thomas: 43rd event | age: 22
  • Jason Day: 64th event | age: 22
  • Rickie Fowler: 73rd event | age: 23

Wise is also a NCAA champion (individual and team) and a Web.com Tour champion. Only time will tell what his true trajectory is, but it's not difficult to see where this appears to be headed.

The part that struck me throughout the week is how easy it looked. Mashed driver, tidy approach shot, birdie putt in, rinse and repeat. It just never seemed hard, and to that point, Wise finished third in the field in approach shot proximity to the hole on Trinity Forest's expansive greens. It's easy (or easier) to make putts when only two guys are closer than you.

"It's awesome. I get to play my schedule. This is huge for me," Wise told Peter Kostis of CBS Sports after his round. "It's a dream come true to win this one."

Wise also interestingly noted that, after his runner-up finish to Jason Day at the Wells Fargo Championship two weeks ago, he was actually more nervous playing on Saturday this week (when he shot 68) than in Sunday's final round alongside Marc Leishman.

First wins are always special no matter where they happen or how they go down. Wise's was inconspicuous at best after a four-hour rain delay bumped this final round up against the Dallas sunset. Fans stayed around but not many of them, and they might have been there for the last of the Michelob Ultra instead of the first of what could be many for Wise.

Regardless, Wise will always remember this one, no matter if he goes on to win 10 more of them or if this is the only one. I know which of those two paths I think I'd bet on, though, and we shouldn't lose sight of just how crazy it is for guys like Wise, Bryson DeChambeau and Si Woo Kim to do what they've done at such a young age. You're not supposed to win professional golf tournaments at 21, and not only did Wise do so on Sunday in Dallas, he made it look like it wasn't even that difficult. Grade: A+

Here are the rest of our grades for the Byron Nelson, and be sure to check out the final 2018 Byron Nelson leaderboard.

Adam Scott (T9): The Australian needed to finish two-way tied for 9th in the tournament to get back into the top 60 in the world and qualify for the U.S. Open. He somewhat brutally finished in a three-way tie.

"I mean I was kind of hopeful to get up there a little bit more, but I mean I don't even think it's going to get there now," said Scott. He will have other opportunities to qualify to get to Shinnecock, but this one would have cinched his 67th straight major championship. Now he's left with work to do. Grade: A-

Jordan Spieth (T21): The hometown crowd favorite still has yet to better his T16 finish at the 2010 Byron Nelson when he was a 16-year-old amateur. I'm convinced Spieth is going to win a tournament at Trinity Forest at some point in his career, but he's going to have to putt better than No. 72 in the field. Spieth lost strokes on the greens every day except for one, and even though he finished No. 7 (!) in strokes gained from tee to green on a ball-striker's course, Spieth was a long way from contending at a home game in Dallas. 

"Felt like I played better than I scored," said Spieth. "Typically when you say that it just means putts didn't go in; just burned edges or just barely missed and I misread a lot of putts, too. Overall, just struggled a bit on matching line and speed and kind of getting it altogether out here. Obviously some guys aren't struggling so much with it, making a lot of putts. Game is in good shape. I'm very confident going forward." Grade: B-

Trinity Forest: I'm the wrong person to ask given that I live here and love the track, but people a lot smarter than me speak glowingly about the place. The players did, too, for the most part. 

"The golf course coming in a lot of guys actually had kind of tougher views from about a year ago, drew a lot of players away but it was overwhelmingly positive this week, which is really cool to hear," said unofficial host Jordan Spieth.

Yes, the scores were probably a little bit lower than most would have preferred, but in the same way weather provides a defense for links courses in England and Scotland, it provides the defense for this course, too. That's great, until the wind doesn't blow.

"Spring time in Texas this is very rare to have three days with no wind," said Spieth. Regardless, it's clear that while the Nelson might never have an elite field based on its place on the schedule, it's going to hold a unique spot in players' minds and, at the very least, be something far different than they normally play."

"A lot of guys said, 'It's grown on me day to day, I really enjoyed it as a change of pace, I had a lot of fun playing this golf course.' Those were lines guys were using this week and shouldn't be reported any differently," he added. "It was an overwhelmingly positive outlook from the players that played. I think as the greens continue to fill in and mature, they'll only be more consistent and the course gets better." Grade: A