{"id":574026,"date":"2026-04-09T14:37:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T14:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/574026\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T14:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T14:37:12","slug":"gary-woodland-is-trying-to-win-the-masters-while-fighting-anxiety-so-severe-he-thinks-someone-is-trying-to-kill-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/574026\/","title":{"rendered":"Gary Woodland is trying to win the Masters while fighting anxiety so severe he thinks someone is \u2018trying to kill me\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Augusta National\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n Gary Woodland<\/a> is back at Augusta for the first time since 2024 and he is highly emotional. He also thinks that somebody might try to kill him.\n <\/p>\n

\n Woodland suffers from severe anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, having endured a series of personal trials and tragedies, including a brain lesion that was affecting his mental health. Despite having the growth removed in 2023, he still feels uneasy in crowds, leading him to keep a security detail on the course since he worries that somebody might try to hurt him.\n <\/p>\n

\n As the American golfer prepares to tee it up at Augusta on Thursday, he spoke of the torment that he\u2019s expecting in The Masters. \u201cIt\u2019s a big week for me,\u201d he said. \u201cThe fans are very close on the tee boxes. There\u2019s probably not a safer golf tournament in the world, so I\u2019m happy for that, but it\u2019s still a battle in my head if I\u2019m safe or not.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n At the Houston Open last month, Woodland stared down his demons to win his first tournament in almost seven years. It was a triumph he couldn\u2019t have imagined in recent years because he\u2019s no longer playing against the course or his opponents \u2013 he\u2019s also now playing against himself.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI got hypervigilant on the ninth hole,\u201d he explained of his round on the Friday of the tournament in Houston, \u201cand I battled the last 10 holes thinking people were trying to kill me.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Gary<\/p>\n

\"Woodland<\/p>\n

\n Woodland says he couldn\u2019t have overcome his anxiety without the comfort blanket of his security detail, and he\u2019ll be looking out for protection at Augusta, too.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cTurning around and knowing that I\u2019m safe, having somebody there with me, it\u2019s the only reason I won two weeks ago,\u201d he said, seemingly on the verge of tears throughout his entire press conference in the Augusta Media Center.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe whole deal for me is it\u2019s visual, right? If I can see somebody, then I can remind myself that I\u2019m safe constantly. I don\u2019t have control when this thing hits me, and it\u2019s tough. It can be a fan. It can be a walking scorer. It can be a camera guy running by me, just any startlement from behind me can trigger this pretty quickly.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Gary<\/p>\n

\n There is no such thing as an easy win on the PGA Tour, but it would be hard to imagine anything harder than the journey Woodland navigated to victory in Texas. Since his previous win at the US Open in 2019, Woodland admits that he\u2019s been to hell and back.\n <\/p>\n

\n A quick glance at his resume would give the impression that Woodland has it all: a major title and a total of five PGA Tour wins to his name, with over $38 million in the bank from prize money alone.\n <\/p>\n

\n But his professional success masks a series of devastating personal tragedies. His first son Jaxson should have been a twin, but his sibling died in utero, and then in 2023, he underwent surgery to remove a lesion on his brain that had been pressuring the amygdala that controls fear and anxiety.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt was hell for me,\u201d he told CNN Sports in 2025<\/a>, \u201cit was very hard every day. Every situation, from driving in a car to getting on an airplane to walking down the street, everything was the end of the world for me.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Woodland sought counsel from a combat veteran ahead of his surgery and he agonized over writing letters to his three young children, just in case he didn\u2019t make it. But he didn\u2019t have to worry; the operation was successful and he says he felt immediate relief, returning to competition less than four months later.\n <\/p>\n

\n But it wasn\u2019t until recently that he admitted he was still in trouble, contending with PTSD from his past ordeals. As such, his victory in Houston was overwhelmingly cathartic and it\u2019s led him back to Augusta.\n <\/p>\n

\"Gary<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWinning was probably the last thing on my mind for a long time. Unfortunately, probably playing here was the last thing on my mind for a long time,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing like driving down Magnolia Lane. I definitely drove a little slower this year than I ever have. I\u2019m definitely taking it all in this week for sure.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Woodland says that golf has saved him, but his love of the game also means that his struggles are ever-present.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s given me purpose, for sure,\u201d he told CNN this week. \u201cWhen I was diagnosed with this brain tumor three years ago, my number one thought was I wasn\u2019t going to let this thing win.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019ve dreamed of being a professional athlete since I was a little kid, and I would do everything in my power to live that dream for my childhood self. Golf has given me something, a lot more to fight for than just myself and my family.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But to illustrate how he seems to be in a perpetual state of conflict, Woodland added, \u201cWhen I\u2019m not on the course, I\u2019m in a battle, and when I\u2019m on the course, I\u2019m in a battle.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Gary<\/p>\n

\n Crucially, however, Woodland says he no longer feels as though he\u2019s alone \u2013 a problem shared is a problem halved.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis is honestly one battle that I\u2019m not able to do on my own. I tried, and it wasn\u2019t working,\u201d he explained. \u201cWinning the US Open in \u201919 had the biggest impact in my life from a golf standpoint. There\u2019s no doubt.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI hope winning in Houston had a bigger impact on somebody else\u2019s life. I hope somebody that\u2019s struggling with something sees this guy out here fighting every day and still living his dreams. I\u2019ve turned a weakness into a strength. I wouldn\u2019t even say it as a weakness, but I think that\u2019s the stigma out there.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s at this stage of the narrative where it seemed appropriate to ask him how this story might end, after all the struggles, with all the uncertainty, how would it feel if it culminated with the green jacket being slipped over his shoulders.\n <\/p>\n

\n His answer to CNN only served to illustrate the magnitude of the challenge he\u2019s facing: \u201cI\u2019ve got to worry about today. I just don\u2019t have the luxury of looking ahead.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Augusta National\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Gary Woodland is back at Augusta for the first time since 2024 and he is highly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[99],"class_list":{"0":"post-574026","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574026","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=574026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}