Gary Woodland – what a remarkable story

Gary Woodland – wins the 2019 US Open at Pebble Beach – image USGA

While I have been aware of the quality of golfer Gary Woodland is and have had some appreciation of the battles he has faced, the more I have become exposed to the journey he has been on since being diagnosed with a brain tumour three years ago, the greater appreciation I have for the golfer and the man.

Just a day ahead of playing the Tour Championship for the first time since 2019, a year in which he became US Open Champion, Woodland spoke to the media in an emotional but measured way of the journey he has been on and the battles he continues to face, mainly due to post-traumatic stress syndrome he suffered as a result of anxiety since the surgery which removed not all of the tumour.

As a result of some of the tumour still residing alongside the amygdala, which controls emotions, Woodland suffers episodes which include him wondering if people are out to kill him, and at last week’s BMW Championship in which he finished an amazing 4th, he struggled with what he imagined were drones following him during the third round.

Earlier this year he won the Houston Open for his 5^th USPGA Tour title and the first since his surgery, and soon after was very candid in an emotional interview on the impact such issues were having, revealing to the golfing world and beyond the dramatic effect he was facing.

Today he was once again very revealing about the issues he is facing and the journey he has been on to make it into this elite field of the leading 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings.

“Getting back here is — I mean, it’s special, said the 42-year-old father of three. “There’s no doubt about it. It’s something that looked a long ways away to start the year. I’m proud of the way I fought. I’m proud to be here. This is a tribute not only to me, but to my team that has been with me.

“I couldn’t have done this on my own. I’ve got a massive team behind me. This is all the hard work and dedication that they’ve given me and supported me, that has allowed me to be in this position right now. It’s awesome.

“With the people around me, there’s no doubt about it. My wife’s my rock. She’s the one who reminds me in tough times why I’m here, what I’m fighting for.

“This is the only dream I’ve ever had – to be a professional athlete. I owe it to my childhood self to fight every day. There’s a lot of days where I don’t want to do it. There’s a lot of days I don’t want to fight, but my wife reminds me why I am. It’s a tribute to my family who sacrificed so much and gave everything for me to go out and live my dreams.

“I owe it to everyone else — I’m not just playing for myself. Like honestly, I probably was — before all this started, I thought it was about me. This is way bigger than me now. I owe it to them, and I owe it to everyone else that is struggling.

“I had a kid in Memphis who flew over from New Zealand who’s 11 years old and has an inoperable brain tumor, and he wanted to meet me. Wednesday through Sunday, he walked every hole with me. I owe it to him. This is a lot bigger than myself now; I realize that. So when I’m struggling, I fight for them.

“I have a big team that I work with, doctors and therapists, and I’ve talked to them. My good days now are 10s. Like when I have a good day, I think I’m more appreciative. I have a better perspective. My bad days are still 1s. So I struggle sometimes because it’s a massive drop now from 10 to 1, so when I get off, it feels like the end of the world.

“Where before my good days were probably 7s, my bad days were 4s, I didn’t have a big drop. It was just, oh, it’s not great. I still struggle, but I’m learning, I’m understanding where we’re able to put protocols in place. TOUR security has been amazing this year. They’re a big reason why I’m sitting up here too.

“The hardest thing for me, I think, I’ve ever had to do was ask for help, and it’s amazing when you ask for help how many people actually want to help. I got a little off last Saturday and was fighting with a lot of things going on — the drones were bothering me, right? I struggle with stuff behind me. They bothered me for 15 holes. When I asked for help, I asked the TOUR security, I asked the rules official; they went away.

“I don’t have to fight this on my own. I can ask for help, and when you do, people help you. So I’m learning to ask for help to help me get through a lot of things that I’m still struggling with, but I’m a lot better off now than I was six months ago; I know that.

“I think from top to bottom my game’s better than it’s ever been. Statistically it shows that. Randy Smith has been amazing being back in my life and guiding me through all this. I’m as consistent now through driving all the way down through the bag through putting than I’ve ever been. That’s not only exciting for me now, it’s also exciting for me going forward.

“When I came out that I was having brain surgery, I don’t know how many texts I got. Let’s just say I got a hundred. When I came out that I’m battling PTSD, I got thousands.

“People, I don’t think, can relate to the brain surgery. People can relate to what I’m battling now. The amount of messages I got of people just saying thank you because they’re battling stuff that nobody knows about. If I can come out and ask for help and talk about it, then they’ve gotten help too.

“At the end of the day, I want to make this world a better place. If somebody — if my story or my journey or me talking about the struggles I face every day, if that helps somebody else, man, that’s what it’s all about. I don’t want to be remembered as being a great golfer; I want to be remembered as a great person. Hopefully my struggles — my struggles suck. There’s no other way to put it. I have a lot of days that suck, but if that helps somebody else, then that’s going to help me too

“I’ve told my wife this — I’m not going to let this thing beat me. I worked my tail off to get to the PGA TOUR and to be a professional athlete. I’m not going to let that go for something that’s out of my hands.

“I have the ability to get up and fight every day, and I’m going to do that. I have a lot of fight left in me. I believe I have a big career left ahead of me, and I’m not going to let this thing win. At the end of the day, I truly believe I can beat this thing. It’s not easy, but I’ll keep fighting every day to do it.”