U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland still struggles to be out on the golf course nearly three years after brain surgery. In 2023, doctors removed a lesion from his brain that had triggered seizures and crippling anxiety. He has recovered a lot but still battles PTSD. Through it, he has leaned on a steady, positive mindset to keep competing at the highest level. At the BMW Championship on Thursday, he opened up about exactly how he manages that fight and what keeps him grounded when the struggles resurface.
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Speaking to the media, Woodland explained how he copes when things get difficult, describing the physical ritual he still leans on.
“When I’ve gone through some treatment and when I’m doing, when I’m struggling, I put my hand on my heart just to remind myself that I’m alive. And if I can feel my heartbeat, I know I’m breathing. And when I have done that this year, just to try to slow my heart down, I tell myself I’m safe and all will be right.”
While the positive outlook has helped Woodland through his battles, he shared an incident that put his own struggles into perspective. He referenced an 11-year-old boy from New Zealand who followed him at last week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis.
Unfortunately, the child is living with an inoperable brain tumor. Knowing that, Woodland said that showing the boy he could keep competing despite his own struggles meant far more to him than simply showing up on a leaderboard. It’s the bigger picture that matters to him – to show up while struggling in hopes that others facing illnesses might see it and do the same.
Woodland’s health crisis began in early 2023. Months after the Masters, he started experiencing tremors, chills, and crushing anxiety. Doctors initially tested for Parkinson’s disease, but an MRI instead revealed a lesion pressing on the part of his brain that controls fear and anxiety. As a result, it triggered partial seizures that jolted him awake at night. Speaking about it a few months ago, he described it as a stretch of four to five months where he genuinely feared he was dying, regardless of what the doctors told him.
Medication helped him keep playing that summer, but symptoms kept worsening. On September 18, 2023, he had to undergo a craniotomy to remove the lesion. But the PTSD soon followed. He has recalled terrifying moments of panic during rounds, such as being startled by a walking scorer or a cart movement, that reduced him to tears in the middle of a fairway and led him to hide in restrooms.
But lately, Woodland seems determined that he doesn’t want to keep “living a lie,” as he further shared, “I have more energy, and that’s the big deal. I was wasting energy, hiding that, and I’m not wasting the energy anymore.”
The shift is visible in his performance too. Woodland entered the BMW Championship 31st in the FedEx Cup standings, just outside the cutoff line for East Lake. But a 6-under 64 in round 1 has vaulted him into projected position No. 12. Maybe the Tour Championship will finally be firmly within reach for Woodland for the first time since 2019.