Gary Woodland exhaled and looked up to the sky when his final putt dropped at Memorial Park Golf Course on Sunday afternoon.
After hugging his caddie briefly while trying to contain his emotions, the tears quickly came as his wife, Gabby, ran out to embrace him. Woodland, who underwent brain surgery that led to a PTSD diagnosis in recent years, had won on the PGA Tour once again.
Woodland cruised to a dominant five-shot win at the Texas Children’s Houston Open on Sunday in what was his first win on Tour since his victory at the 2019 U.S. Open. After what has been a turbulent few years for him off the course, the win completes one of the most remarkable comebacks in golf’s history.
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“We play an individual sport out here, but I wasn’t alone today,” Woodland said, fighting back tears on NBC. “I’ve got a lot of people behind me, my team, my family, in this golf world.
“Everybody that’s struggling with something, I hope they see me and don’t give up. Just keep fighting.”
Gary Woodland battles back from brain surgery, PTSD diagnosis
Woodland’s health issues really started to become an issue for him in 2023, but he struggled for months to figure out what was going on. And the symptoms were terrifying.
He frequently lost his appetite, experienced shaky hands and the chills. But the biggest issue was fear and anxiety that he just couldn’t escape. He was constantly jolted awake at night with a recurring nightmare that he was falling and going to die. He started experiencing small seizures at night, too.
“It was a horrible experience,” he said in 2024. “All you wanted to do was go to sleep to not think about it, and going to sleep was the worst part. That is where all the seizures were happening. It was a horrible four, five months.”
So Woodland underwent surgery to remove part of a lesion from his brain in September 2023, and he returned to the Tour months later. The fear, he said, was gone immediately after the surgery.
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Woodland revealed further health struggles ahead of The Players Championship. He had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the brain surgery. Symptoms would frequently overwhelm him, especially while competing in the Procore Championship in Napa, California, last fall.
Woodland said one of the walking scorers kept startling him when they walked up behind him, and he struggled to remember what he was doing throughout the round. At one point, his caddie even tried to get him to just walk off the course and withdraw, but Woodland was determined to finish the day.
“I went into every bathroom to cry the rest of the day,” Woodland said. “When I got done, I got in my car and got out of there. There are days when it’s tough – crying in the scoring trailer, running to my car just to hide it. I don’t want to live that way anymore.”
Woodland said there were instances where he became hypervigilant and struggled even this week in Houston. After his round on Friday, he said he “bawled my eyes out” after turning in his scorecard.
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Woodland opted to share the diagnosis both in an effort to help others, but also due to the fan support he said he’s received ever since returning after his brain surgery.
“When I’m out here and I’m playing and people are talking to me and all that and I’m trying to hide the battle that I’m fighting, I was wasting a lot of energy on that,” Woodland said. “Now that people know what I’m fighting, I’m focusing my energy on trying to slow my heart rate down, trying to slow my thoughts down. That’s tough to do when I’m trying to hide stuff.
Woodland rolls at Memorial Park
Woodland didn’t have an incredible round on Sunday in Houston, but he didn’t really need one.
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After starting the day with a one-shot lead, Woodland pushed it to six by the time he made the turn. Woodland went 4-under over a five-hole stretch before reaching the back nine, and then simply had to hang on the rest of the way to complete his 3-under 67. That gave him a five-shot win over Nicolai Højgaard and the rest of the field.
Woodland started the week at No. 139 in the Official World Golf Rankings, and No. 119 in the FedExCup standings. He was exempt on Tour this season only after finishing inside the top 100 in the FedExCup fall a few months ago, and was off to a bit of a rough start this spring. Woodland missed the cut in four of his previous seven outings, but was coming off a T14 run at the Valspar Championship.
While Sunday was extremely emotional for him, and understandably so, Woodland was quick to note that his fight with PTSD and his recovery will be ongoing. He also knows that doesn’t negate what he pulled off.
“It’s just another day, right, that I’ve got to keep healing,” he said. “Today was a good day, but I’m going to keep fighting. I’ve got a big fight ahead of me, and I’m going to keep going. But I’m proud of myself right now.”
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Woodland also had a very clear message to Gabby and his family.
“Thank you,” he said plainly. “I wouldn’t be anywhere before this without them. There’s no chance I could do this without Gabby, for sure. This has been hard on me, this has been a lot harder on her. I love her to death.”
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