Gary Woodland Calls Comeback Year His Proudest After Brain Surgery

Gary Woodland says this season, one of the hardest of his career, has also become his proudest, as he continues recovering from brain surgery that removed part of a lesion that had triggered severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

Doctors cut a baseball-sized hole in the side of Woodland's head in September 2023 to remove the growth, but not all of it. Since then, he has struggled with sudden fear responses to unexpected movement — a walking scorer, a distant golf cart, even drones — that make competing difficult.

"I need to be a no-fly zone," Woodland said. "Any cart moving, even though it's not in play, that never used to bother me. Now I have to back away because my brain wants to make sure that's not a threat coming to get me. And that's hard when you're competing."

In March, Woodland gave an emotional interview to Golf Channel describing the PTSD, saying he had sometimes broken down in tears in the middle of the fairway. Two weeks later, he won the Houston Open in what he called one of the most emotional victories in golf this year. He has since posted four other top-10 finishes, including at the U.S. Open, the tournament he won in 2019.

Woodland is now on the cusp of qualifying for the Tour Championship and a shot at the FedEx Cup, playing this week at the BMW Championship at Bellerive, near his Kansas home, for the first time in six years. He entered the playoffs at No. 27 in the FedEx Cup standings but faded last week at the TPC Southwind amid extreme heat that pushed his heart rate — which he must keep under control — dangerously high.

"Last week was a lot for me," he said. "My heart rate got going and it was so hot last week and I couldn't slow down... I just couldn't cool down."

Woodland now travels with extra security to help avoid sudden movement around him. He is already guaranteed a spot in all of next year's signature events, a status he did not have this season, when he received no sponsor exemptions but still qualified for five signature events through his Houston win.

"I'm more proud of myself now than I've ever been," Woodland said. "I think that comes with perspective when I realize where I was six months ago, even two months ago. I think when I look back, it'll be my best year on tour."

He plans to meet with doctors after the season ends, hopeful of coming off medication he has taken for three years.