Gary Woodland's toughest year recovering from brain surgery is also his proudest

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Gary Woodland has strong memories of Bellerive, the closest tournament to his Kansas home. He led the 2018 PGA Championship after 18 and 36 holes and started the final round two shots out of the lead, his first Sunday in a major playing alongside Tiger Woods.

“I'd never seen anything like that,” Woodland said. “It was ruckus. It was awesome. I was watching him and got caught up in him.”

Woodland is convinced that experience is what enabled him to win the U.S. Open the following year at Pebble Beach , which stands as the biggest moment of his career.

Biggest. Most memorable. But no longer his proudest moment.

That would be this year, among his toughest seasons as he tries to recover from brain surgery that removed part — but not all — of a lesion that triggered unfounded fears of dying. He still gets spooked by sudden movement, such as the walking scorer approaching from behind or a lone golf cart in the distance he sees out of the corner of his eye. Drones are a problem.

“I need to be a no-fly zone,” Woodland said with a laugh. “Any cart moving, even though it's not in play, that never used to bother me. Now I have to back away because my brain wants to make sure that's not a threat coming to get me. And that's hard when you're competing.”

He gave an emotional interview with Golf Channel in March to discuss post-traumatic stress disorder so severe there have been times when he would be in tears in the middle of the fairway.

This is what Woodland has been dealing with since doctors cut a baseball-sized hole in the side of his head in September 2023 to remove the lesion. And that's why it's worth looking at this season as nothing short of remarkable as he plays in the BMW Championship for the first time in six years.

Two weeks after that Golf Channel interview, Woodland won the Houston Open , as emotional a victory as any in golf this year. He has had four other top 10s, including the U.S. Open. And now he is on the cusp of reaching the Tour Championship for a chance to win the FedEx Cup.

Woodland entered the PGA Tour playoffs at No. 27 in the FedEx Cup and had a chance last week at the TPC Southwind to lock up his spot among the top 30 who advance to the Tour Championship. He started well with a 66 and then faded in the extreme heat.

He probably should not have played because Woodland needs to keep his heart rate under control and the heat index approached 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 Celsius) on the weekend. But considering his position in the FedEx Cup, he couldn't afford to miss.

“Last week was a lot for me,” Woodland said. “My heart rate got going and it was so hot last week and I couldn't slow down. It was almost probably better if I didn't play last week. I was changing outfits, putting towels on my head. I was trying to do everything. I just couldn't cool down.

"Every day is a learning day. I still have tough days, hard days. But we've learned so much this year.”

Woodland now has an extra layer of security with him from arrival to departure, parking lot to parking lot, mainly to make sure he gets space without sudden movement. Big crowds are not a problem, and he expects plenty of family and friends making the drive from Topeka, Kansas.

But then, he gets plenty of support everywhere, given what he faces and how he goes about life.

He spends the fall and spring in South Florida, but not the West Palm Beach area where it seems half of the PGA Tour resides. Woodland is about 40 miles south in Delray Beach and plays out of Pine Tree. Among the members are Hall of Famers Beth Daniel and Meg Mallon, who occasionally see him playing with members.

“I wish I could be around him more because he always makes you feel better,” Mallon said Tuesday.

That popularity, along with his U.S. Open title, brought him five sponsor exemptions to the $20 million signature events in 2025. There was plenty of sympathy involved, too. Woodland has earned a lot of friends in his career.

This year he received none. And he still got into the last five through his Houston Open win. And even if he doesn't make it to East Lake in Atlanta next week, just playing through everything — and with Woodland, that's a lot — to get to Bellerive is huge for him.

He is assured of being in all of the $20 million signature events next year.

“It's the first time I've been in the elevated tournaments, where I can set my schedule. Just the stress of that," Woodland said. “I plan on taking off the rest of the year to make sure I'm ready to go next year from a health standpoint, which continues to get better, but I've still got a long way to go.”

And he has a big week at Bellerive to see if he can make it one step further, having a shot at the FedEx Cup and being set for all four majors next year.

Woodland will meet with doctors when his season is over, hopeful of getting off medication he has been on for three years. There also will be time to reflect.

“I’m more proud of myself now than I've ever been,” he said. “I think that comes with perspective when I realize where I was six months ago, even two months ago. I think when I look back, it'll be my best year on tour.”

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