With just 11 days left until the Masters, Gary Woodland has completely flipped the script. Just a few weeks ago, he had missed four cuts in the seven tournaments he played this season. Before the Valspar Championship 2026, his best performance was a 64th-place finish, and he had been struggling to find any rhythm since his brain surgery. But at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, everything came together perfectly.

He didn’t just back into the conversation; he earned his Masters eligibility with a tournament-record 21-under par performance. And when asked about how he is feeling ahead of the Masters, Woodland gave credit exactly where it is due.

“Randy’s got me in a spot now, my game’s better than it’s ever been. Obviously, I’ve got to battle some stuff with that, but my game, he’s more than a golf coach to me. And Steiny, he’s been with me through all this. I love him to death,” Woodland said after the win.

It was Randy Smith who got Woodland through college and onto the PGA Tour. Woodland reunited with Smith after the brain surgery, and in the last 18 months, Smith has been back in Woodland’s corner. The 41-year-old had previously remarked that his wife, Gabby Granado, persuaded him to go back to Smith.

Smith’s intervention was visible throughout Woodland’s journey. He called Woodland “soft” and challenged him to return to the aggressive, high-speed style that helped him win the 2019 U.S. Open. Beyond the technical, Smith teaches Woodland to accept bad swings as mere ‘oops’ moments rather than triggers for the anxiety stemming from his PTSD. This psychological freedom allowed Woodland to maximize his 190+ mph ball speed once again.

‘Steiny’—Mark Steinberg of Excel Sports Management— was the other man who refused to let him give up on his dream. Steinberg, who is also famous for representing Tiger Woods, has been Woodland’s agent and confidant since 2011. Throughout the journey, Mark Steinberg has been by Gary Woodland’s side, never leaving him alone in tough times. During Woodland’s 2023 surgery and the following period of financial and logistical uncertainty, Steinberg handled every off-course stressor, ensuring Woodland’s professional life remained intact.

Now, this win is Woodland’s first since a baseball-sized hole was cut into his skull in September 2023 to remove a brain tumor. The road back was paved with missed cuts and high scores, but the ‘old Gary’ finally reappeared at the Valspar Championship, where he posted a T14 finish with a 5-under par total. Woodland carried that momentum into Houston with a performance that was statistically flawless.

He opened with a 6-under 64, carding seven birdies and looking ‘freer than ever’. Then, in the second round, he fired a career-best 7-under 63, featuring three straight birdies to take a three-shot lead. In the third round, he had a “rocky start” but settled in for a 65 and maintained a one-shot lead over Nicolai Højgaard.

And while Højgaard faltered with an early double-bogey in the final round, Woodland remained steady, closing with a 67 to win by five strokes. And with this, he once again returns to Augusta National, where he last played in 2024 but missed the cut. 

The support of Randy and Steiny was vital to his return to golf glory. However, it would be unfair to ignore the woman who made all this happen.

The quiet force behind the comeback

Gabby Woodland has stayed mostly out of the spotlight, but her role is easy to see. They have been together for a long time, dating back to at least 2011, and got married in October 2016 in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

In 2017, the couple faced a terrible heartbreak when they lost one twin. Their son, Jaxson, was born prematurely but eventually made it. For the Woodlands, it was the kind of experience that either tears people apart or brings them together for life. And it brought them together. In 2019, the year Woodland won the US Open at Pebble Beach, the couple welcomed twin daughters, Maddox and Lennox.

But the hardest stretch of Woodland’s life was yet to happen. Woodland’s fight became much bigger than golf in September 2023 when he had brain surgery. But whether she was standing beside him when he received the Patriot Award in 2018 or staying by his bedside through the dark months following his 2023 brain surgery, Gabby has been his “rock.”

And appearing on Netflix’s Full Swing docuseries, Gabby Woodland said on their shared journey,

“The love that we have for each other now is one hundred times what it was a year ago. A thousand times what it was when we got married.”

And on the 18th green in Houston, Gary’s first act as a champion says it all.

“There’s no chance I could do this without Gabby for sure,” an emotional Gary Woodland shared while tearfully embracing his wife. “This has been hard on me, and a lot harder on her. I love her to death.”