Even in the “offseason,” Aaron Wise is still making some serious noise on the golf course.
The Oregon men’s golf star, whose 2014-15 season was arguably the best for a freshman in team history, won the prestigious Pacific Coast Amateur Tournament on Friday after shooting a four-under 66 in the fourth and final round. Wise beat out many other ranked amateur golfers and several Oregon teammates.
The prestigious tournament, in its 49th year, took place at the Eugene Country Club, one of Wise and the Ducks’ home courses.
“I knew it was a big week for me to do well, especially on my home course,” Wise said. “It was a great opportunity. I was happy I was able to take it.”
A great opportunity was also a great challenge for Wise. The Pacific Coast Amateur featured three of the four top-ranked amateur golfers in the world, according to Golfweek.
Beau Hossler of Texas, ranked second in the world, shot a six-under 64 Friday and nearly came back to defeat Wise. SMU’s third-ranked Bryson DeChambeau, the individual 2015 NCAA Division I Champion, tied for fourth and finished four strokes back from the lead. Fourth-ranked Maverick McNealy, the Stanford standout who won this year’s Pac-12 Championships, tied Hossler for second place.
Though Wise and fellow teammates have played the Eugene Country Club course many times, they see much less of it during the summer. Wise said he noticed a difference in the surface early this week.
“We don’t play the course like this very often,” Wise said. “It was a lot firmer and faster than we ever see it. It was actually an adjustment period to realize that. You can’t go after every tee,  can’t make birdie on every hole. You’ve got to play conservative.”
To the casual observer, Wise’s fourth-round performance didn’t appear conservative at all. He birdied four of the first nine holes, and added to more on 10 and 15, par 4’s on the back-nine.
But Wise maintained a careful approach.
“It may not seem like it, but it definitely was (conservative),” Wise said. “I was just trying to play the greens and take my two-puts, but luckily I was able to get a few putts to drop, and it turned into something special.”
Wise commanded a two-stroke lead heading into the back nine. After a birdie on 15, Wise suffered a setback with a double-bogey on 16. With McNealy and Hossler right on his tail, Wise maintained his cool.
“I knew that would be a big hole for me and, unfortunately, I didn’t play it very well,” Wise said. “But I knew once I saw the leaderboard of Mav (McNealy’s) group coming up behind me that he was at four-under. If I could just par out, I would have a pretty good chance at winning.”
Wise did just that, shooting par on 17 and 18, as did McNealy.
Other Oregon men’s golfers in the field included Brandon McIver, Zach Foushee, Sulman Raza, Thomas Lim and Nigel Lett. Raza, a Eugene native who redshirted last season, finished the tournament tied for twelfth with a combined four-over scorecard.
Wise will play in two more amateur championship tournaments this summer before starting his sophomore campaign at Oregon. Next for Wise is the Western Amateur Golf Championship, which will take place August 3-8 in Sugar Grove, Ill.
Follow Will Denner on Twitter @Will_Denner