There are lots of ways to get yourself disqualified from a tournament. Remember the 2024 Genesis Invitational? Jordan Spieth suffered his first and, to date, only DQ of his career after signing a wrong scorecard. Carlota Ciganda refused to add her slow play penalty to her scorecard and exited the Evian Championship. But Aaron Wise’s disqualification at the 2026 Wyndham Championship beats them all. The 31-year-old didn’t turn up to finish his round at Sedgefield.

A rain delay, a resumption and a DQ

The clock had barely crossed 5:26 p.m. when the golfers at Sedgefield Country Club were told to put their clubs away. A dangerous weather situation had moved into the area, forcing them to halt the second round of the Wyndham Championship. Thankfully, the wait didn’t last long, and by 6 p.m., the players were back on course. All but one.

Aaron Wise never returned.

83% of our readers couldn't break par yesterday

Changing winds, tricky bunkers, and quirky breaks test every shot. Beat par, compare scores, and return tomorrow for a new challenge.

TEE OFF HERE↗

That was definitely strange, given Wise had only four holes left. And with the Wyndham Championship being the PGA Tour’s final regular-season event, every hole mattered for his FedExCup standings. Yet he failed to communicate his situation to the committee, and the mistake proved costly. So where was Wise during the delay?

Get the Essentially Golf Newsletter. The pulse of today's golf world — daily news from fairways across the globe and tips to improve your game.

As of publishing, there hasn’t been any update from the one-time winner. Golf.com reported that the PGA Tour didn’t provide any further details when asked to clarify the matter. But what we know is the rule under which he was DQ’d, and that gives us an idea of what might have happened.

Which rule did Aaron Wise violate?

Clause 5 under the USGA’s Rules of Golf broadly covers playing the round, and 5.7 covers suspension of play. Meanwhile, subsection 5.7(c) covers what pros must do when the play resumes.

If you are in the middle of the fairway or on the green, you must be there when play resumes at the time set by the committee. For Aaron Wise, that would’ve been the sixth tee as he started on the back nine. His playing partners were present, but Wise wasn’t. Officials determined that Wise had violated Rule 5.7(c) 2, and the USGA is pretty forthright in this matter.

“Penalty for Breach of Rule 5.7c(2): Disqualification,” reads the official rule on the USGA’s website.

Now you might scratch your head, thinking, How can a player miss it? Well, a similar incident involving Russell Henley at this year’s Players Championship offers some clue.

Russell Henley’s lunchtime fiasco and how he got saved

Pros tend to remain in the clubhouse during a weather delay or in the locker room to grab some food. You can’t, of course, hit the range when it’s raining. So Russell Henley, after assessing the weather situation, was sure play was not going to resume at least in an hour.

So the PGA Tour winner went to the locker room and was having a peaceful meal. What he didn’t know was the rain had stopped. Unlike the tornado that Henley thought was going to come, it stopped after a heavy downpour. The PGA Tour had already updated the time at which play would resume.

Henley missed the memo.

But thankfully, Ben Griffin didn’t.

When he noticed Henley was still at the lunch table, he figured something might be wrong. Griffin told him that his tee time was in the next four minutes. Now, we don’t know whether Henley left his lunch or ran with his lunch in his hand. But he reached there in time.

Similar to the Wyndham Championship, the delay was less than half an hour, and Henley avoided getting DQed. As for Aaron Wise, everything is simply speculation now. Was it a genuine mistake? How late was he to the tee if he did make it? Or did he simply decide that returning wasn’t worth it? The last question is actually loaded when you look at Wise’s position on the leaderboard at the time of his DQ.

Wise’s DQ will have a ripple effect beyond the Wyndham Championship

He opened the Wyndham Championship with a 2-over 72. On Friday, he was 1-over through 14 holes when the round was suspended. After a roller-coaster back nine, Wise gained composure on the front nine, and he had just birdied the 14th.

Yet, realistically, Aaron Wise faced an almost impossible task. The cutline fell at 3-under, and Wise needed to gain six strokes over those final four holes just to have a chance of making the weekend. That doesn’t mean he intentionally walked away. But it does make the bizarre sequence easier to understand. The problem for Wise, however, is more severe than just a simple DQ.

The 30-year-old is 151st in FedExCup standings. He has no hopes of entering the playoffs, but his Tour card is also on the line. He is also 224th in FedExCup Fall standings, and to earn a tour card, he needs to make a massive jump.

The DQ at the Wyndham Championship might prove costly, as there was a chance for him to improve the rankings. But Wise might find some comfort in one fact.

So is it the first time a golfer went MIA abruptly?

Heck, no. Actually missing tee time or missing in action when the tee time comes is far more common than you think.

Of course, Garrick Higgo’s name comes to mind when you think of a pro missing their tee time. But the South African was just late at the 2026 PGA Championship and got away with a two-stroke penalty. There are cases, however, of players going MIA.

At the 2024 Butterfield Bermuda Championship, Raul Pereda was disqualified when he failed to show up on Saturday after the second round got suspended on Friday. Similar to Wise, no details were provided, but Pereda was struggling on the wrong side of the cut line.

But what makes Wise’s case unique is he had only four holes left, and the round restarted only after a 30-minute delay. As far as our understanding goes, this makes it the first time a pro was DQ’d for failing to tee off when the round resumed on the same day. The disqualification is also an unfortunate footnote to what has already been a complicated return to professional golf for Wise.

Aaron Wise’s Comeback Has Been About More Than Golf

Aaron Wise’s performance in the current season hasn’t been the best. Of the 11 starts he has had until now, he made the cut in the John Deere Classic, the ISCO Championship, and the Corales Puntacana Championship. The 30-year-old started the year with six consecutive missed cuts.

He entered the Wyndham Championship after two consecutive missed cuts at the 3M Open and the Rocket Classic last week.

With all these missed cuts, he stands at 151 in the FedExCup standings. On paper, for sure this isn’t the season he would have wanted. However, his return to professional golf is so much more than just numbers.

Wise had it tough with his mental health, so much so that he had to step away from the sport in 2023, and at one point he wasn’t sure he would play professionally again.

“There were a lot of times I never knew if I would even be able to play out here again,” Wise said. “So to have that opportunity’s amazing.”

This problem then became bigger than golf; it seeped into his personal life. He mentioned how he didn’t want to do the regular things. But he eventually did, and for that he has one person to thank. Someone who promised to stand beside him in trying times, and she literally was.

Reagan Wise Has Been His Anchor

Wise’s wife, Reagan, had taken over as his caddie despite having absolutely no professional golf experience. Having her in the bag helped him focus on something that became rather difficult for him during his comeback: staying in the moment.

“Just to keep me present, keep me in the moment, and have fun no matter what’s going on,” Wise said of Reagan’s role.

That mindset helped in producing encouraging results. Wise finished T3 at the ISCO Championship and T15 at the Corales Puntacana Championship. Not the best he had to offer, but surely a glimpse of the player he once was. That being said, the Wyndham Championship incident isn’t without precedent.

Whether intentional or not, Aaron Wise’s disqualification adds another example of how failing to follow Rule 5.7(c) 2 can have serious consequences.