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Gary Woodland opens up about brain surgery, road to recovery<\/p>\n
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Written by Lisa Antonucci<\/p>\n
An emotional Gary Woodland revealed a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder Monday ahead of THE PLAYERS Championship, saying he is still grappling with the aftermath of his 2023 brain surgery, but is determined to stop hiding the reality of his recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t waste energy anymore hiding this, and I\u2019m blessed with a lot of support out here on the TOUR,\u201d Woodland said. \u201cEveryone\u2019s just been amazing. Every week I come out and everyone\u2019s so excited and happy that I\u2019m back. I hear that every week \u2014 it\u2019s so nice to see you past this, it\u2019s so nice to see you 100 percent \u2014 and I appreciate that love and support. But inside, I feel like I\u2019m dying, and I feel like I\u2019m living a lie.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an interview with Rex Hoggard that aired Monday night on Golf Channel,<\/a> Woodland said he received the formal PTSD diagnosis about a year ago but continues to struggle with the mental and emotional toll following surgery to remove a brain lesion in 2023. The procedure marked the beginning of a long recovery for the four-time PGA TOUR winner, who returned to TOUR competition in January 2024.<\/p>\n But his return has been anything but business as usual. Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, recounted an experience from the FedExCup Fall that demonstrated the despair he\u2019s felt since his return and described a round while competing in Napa, California, when symptoms suddenly overwhelmed him on the course.<\/p>\n \u201cI was hypervigilant,\u201d Woodland said, calling out a common trait associated with PTSD. \u201cA walking scorer startled me, got close to me from behind. I pulled my caddie and said, \u2018You can\u2019t let anybody get behind me.\u2019 Next thing you know, I couldn\u2019t remember what I was doing. My eyesight started to get blurry.\u201d<\/p>\n Standing in the fairway, Woodland said he felt unable to continue.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was my turn to hit and I couldn\u2019t hit,\u201d he said. \u201cButch (caddie Brennan Little) said, \u2018Let\u2019s go in.\u2019 I said, \u2018No man, I\u2019m here for these guys. I want to fight through this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n He finished the round but said the emotional toll lingered.<\/p>\n \u201cI went into every bathroom to cry the rest of the day,\u201d Woodland said. \u201cWhen I got done, I got in my car and got out of there. There are days when it\u2019s tough \u2013 crying in the scoring trailer, running to my car just to hide it. I don\u2019t want to live that way anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Since then, Woodland said the PGA TOUR has worked with him to put security protocols in place that help him feel safer on the course.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more we learn, the more we\u2019re able to put protocols in place to help me. But it\u2019s been a journey,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Part of that journey has been understanding that the anxiety and hyper-awareness he experiences are common for someone who has endured neurological trauma. Still, Woodland hopes his willingness to continue competing might offer encouragement to others battling similar struggles.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope somebody that\u2019s struggling sees me out here still fighting and battling and trying to live my dreams,\u201d Woodland said. \u201cI\u2019ve talked to veterans, and one thing I\u2019ve heard from multiple people is you can\u2019t do this on your own, no matter how strong you think you are.\u201d<\/p>\n Woodland, who finished 90th in the FedExCup Fall, has made five starts this season but reached the weekend just twice as he continues balancing competition with recovery. Continuing to compete on TOUR has not been easy, he admitted, but it remains central to who he is.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is my dream,\u201d Woodland said. \u201cI have a lot of fight in me and I\u2019m not going to let this thing win. But it\u2019s been hard.\u201d<\/p>\n The journey has also taken a toll on those closest to him.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has been harder on my family and my team because they just want to help,\u201d Woodland said. \u201cThey want to make it go away, and that\u2019s not how this battle goes. But their love and support is what\u2019s gotten me through it.\u201d<\/p>\n Support from fellow players has also been crucial. Woodland said being around teammates during the Ryder Cup provided one of the few moments where he felt completely comfortable.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t have to hide it,\u201d he said. \u201cI could be myself.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite doctors suggesting that avoiding high-stress environments might be ideal, Woodland said stepping away from competition was never seriously considered.<\/p>\n \u201cIn an ideal world I\u2019m probably not playing,\u201d he said. \u201cBut in an ideal world I don\u2019t have this. This is my dream.\u201d<\/p>\n By speaking publicly, Woodland said he hopes to free himself from the exhausting effort of pretending everything is fine while continuing to chase the career he has built over nearly two decades. Ultimately, he hopes his journey might resonate beyond golf.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to live my dreams and be successful out here,\u201d Woodland said. \u201cBut I want to help people, too. I realize now I\u2019ve got to help myself first \u2013 and hopefully this is the first step in doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n *:not(style){overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0px;right:0px;bottom:0px;left:0px;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;width:100%;height:100%;}.css-11jnzpa>img,.css-11jnzpa>video{object-fit:cover;}.css-11jnzpa::before{height:0px;content:””;display:block;padding-bottom:66.66666666666666%;}]]> Mar 9, 2026<\/p>\n Gary Woodland betting profile: THE PLAYERS Championship<\/a>Betting Profile<\/a>![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2207668356.jpg\"\/)
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2H AGO 4 Min Read Latest *:not(style){overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0px;right:0px;bottom:0px;left:0px;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;width:100%;height:100%;}.css-17ygvlf>img,.css-17ygvlf>video{object-fit:cover;}.css-17ygvlf::before{height:0px;content:””;display:block;padding-bottom:56.25%;}]]> Gary Woodland opens up about brain surgery, road to recovery *:not(style)~*:not(style){margin-top:0.5rem;-webkit-margin-end:0px;margin-inline-end:0px;margin-bottom:0px;-webkit-margin-start:0px;margin-inline-start:0px;}]]>…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-514191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}