Gary Woodland is chasing his fourth outright PGA Tour title at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, and should he land the trophy, it would complete a remarkable comeback of sorts for the immensely popular golfer.

Woodland shared he suffered with anxiety and was worried about death.

Thankfully, the former World No.12 has since admitted that he feels much better for revealing his issues and is back contending for PGA Tour titles once more.

Woodland’s first PGA Tour win arrived at the 2011 Transitions Championship, four years after he turned pro and just a few weeks after he lost to Jhonattan Vegas in a playoff at the Bob Hope Classic.

His college career was a fascinating period in his life, too, as he spent a year at Washburn University on a basketball scholarship before transferring to Kansas University and continuing college life as a golfer.

Speaking to TaylorMade about the decision, Woodland said that he gave up on basketball after playing in a game against the University of Kansas.

He said: “They were so much bigger and faster then we were. I quickly realized I wasn’t going to be able to play basketball as a professional – I probably could’ve gone overseas and played, but I wasn’t going to be able to do it as a career.”

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During his time in education, Woodland studied sociology and won four college golf events. Since that time, Kansas University made the decision to name its golf complex after Woodland and he was inducted into the Topeka Sports Hall of Fame in June 2017.

And Woodland’s Alma Mater still means a lot to him with his favorite college team being the Kansas Jayhawks. On a similar theme, the professional football team he supports is the Kansas City Chiefs.

Woodland took his immense talent from school out on tour and has collected multiple achievements over the years, including wins at the Reno-Tahoe Open, the 2018 WM Phoenix Open and – of course – the 2019 US Open.

Gary Woodland with the US Open trophy

(Image credit: Getty Images)

He also landed the World Cup of Golf alongside Matt Kuchar back in 2011, won the Presidents Cup with Team USA in 2019 and has two career aces. Woodland, to date, has earned more than $36.5 million in prize money on the PGA Tour.

For much of that time, Woodland’s caddie has been Brennan Little – an extremely experienced looper who has helped the American maintain his place at the highest level.

Away from the golf course, Woodland, his wife Gabby and their children Jaxson, Maddox and Lennox live in Delray Beach, Florida. Woodland is a member of Pine Tree Golf Club. His home club as a junior was Topeka Country Club in Kansas.

One of his favorite past times is playing table tennis. After injuring his shoulder during his rookie season on the PGA Tour, Woodland had nine months out and couldn’t really move his left shoulder, so he took to table-tennis to keep busy.

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5. He has previously worked with Butch Harman. His current coach is Mark Blackburn, while he also works putting guru Phil Kenyon.

6. Woodland was the star of an episode of Netflix docuseries ‘Full Swing’.

7. Back in 2017, Woodland and his partner Gabby had their son Jaxson who was born 10 weeks prematurely. They were expecting twins but sadly their daughter was lost during the pregnancy. They then had two twin girls together in 2019 after two miscarriages.

Woodland shared how he had been diagnosed with PTSD following his recovery from the surgery.