PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Two years after Gary Woodland returned to the PGA Tour following brain surgery, he still struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder so severe there have been times when he was in tears in the middle of the fairway.
He chose to share his PTSD diagnosis with Golf Channel on Monday at The Players Championship in an emotional interview, saying he's determined to stop hiding behind the difficulty of his recovery.
“I can’t waste energy anymore hiding this, and I’m blessed with a lot of support out here on the tour,” Woodland said. “Everyone’s just been amazing. Every week I come out and everyone’s so excited and happy that I’m back. ... And I appreciate that love and support.
“But inside, I feel like I’m dying, and I feel like I’m living a lie.”
Woodland shared one incident of being hypervigilant. He said he was spooked by a walking scorer who came up too closely behind him during the Procore Championship last September.
“It was my turn to hit and I couldn’t hit,” Woodland said.
His caddie gave him a pair of sunglasses to hide the tears, and Woodland said he would go into bathrooms to cry. He finished the round, went straight to his car and left.
Woodland says he hoped that sharing his struggles can reach others who are dealing with PTSD.
“I’ve talked to veterans, and one thing I’ve heard from multiple people is you can’t do this on your own, no matter how strong you think you are,” he said. “I have a lot of fight in me and I’m not going to let this thing win. But it’s been hard.”
The surgery was in September 2023 after doctors discovered a lesion on a part of the brain that caused unfounded feelings of fear that he was dying.
“I want to live my dreams and be successful out here,” Woodland said. “But I want to help people, too. I realize now I’ve got to help myself first — and hopefully this is the first step in doing that.”
The island and the drop zone
Tommy Fleetwood prepares for The Players Championship like he does most tournaments, chipping and putting to different pins, testing how the golf ball reacts out of the rough. He also is among the very few who will take a shot from the drop zone on the island-green 17th.
It's taboo for so many players who don't want to practice a shot they have no intention of hitting.
“Of course I'm not planning on hitting it in the water,” Fleetwood said. “But at the same time, the hole has enough mental challenges that if you do hit it in the water, you just want to be prepared.”
More than 1,000 balls have missed the island on the notorious par 3 since the PGA Tour began tracking shots with its ShotLink technology, not all from the drop zone. Sometimes the best play is simply to re-tee on the hole that listed at 141 yards on the card.
The drop zone is about 80 yards, depending on the pin. It's not always an easier shot. Is it worth practicing.
“No,” former Players champion Justin Leonard said so quickly he made it sound as if there was no other logical answer. “And if a caddie ever let you see him shooting the pin, he should be fired.”
Mostly it's psychological, not wanting to even imagine being in that position. The first time Tiger Woods played Oakmont in a practice round in 2007, a group of guests wanted him to try a shot from the church pew bunkers. Woods laughed and declined.
Collin Morikawa said practicing from the drop zone — whether it's the island green at the TPC Sawgrass or anywhere else — could tempt a player to try a shot he might not be able to pull off when it actually counts.
“When you're hitting from the drop zone, unfortunately you're probably just going to make 5,” he said. “You're not trying to do anything fancy because that's when it starts to add up. You've hit it in the water, try to get cute to a front pin or a back left pin and you're in the water again.”
JT the meteorologist
When it comes to weather, Justin Thomas is leaving nothing to chance.
Rain is in the forecast at The Players Championship for the first and final rounds. That can change because it’s weather. Thomas was asked how much he pays attention to the forecast, and he answered by pulling out his phone.
“I have six weather apps,” he said as he scrolled through the home page. “The Weather Channel app is just kind of my standard weather app, but The Weather Bug is my optimistic weather app. I’m a huge weather optimist.”
Key to the weather for players is not so much the precipitation but the wind direction, which can make a golf course play entirely different.
And with a clothes horse like Thomas, it has other purposes.
“I will look at the weather probably in advance more so for packing purposes,” he said.
Rory's redux
Rory McIlroy returned to Augusta National late last year without his clubs, mainly to work on a documentary to be released March 30 on Prime. It gave him a chance to see the champions locker room (he is sharing with Raymond Floyd and the late Ben Hogan) and relive some memories.
He played it for the first time a few weeks ago with his father and club chairman Fred Ridley, and he tried to replicate his famous 7-iron that he took around the tree and over the water to about 6 feet on the par-5 15th.
This time it turned out even better.
“I nearly pitched it in the hole. It was actually a better shot than I hit in the tournament. It was actually unbelievable, I wish I could have got it on camera,” McIlroy said. “Just sort of went to the back edge of the green.”
That he hit 7-iron again was interesting because Augusta National is typically softer and longer in March than it is during the Masters.
“I’m a little stronger this year. I’ve put in a bit of work in the gym,” McIlroy said with a grin.
This was one day before he withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational after tweaking his back in the gym.
Divots
Champions Golf Club in Houston has been awarded the 2029 U.S. Senior Women's Open and the 2040 U.S. Senior Open, along with the 2034 U.S. Mid-Amateur. It last hosted the U.S. Women's Open in December 2020. The last time Champions held the top men was in the 2003 Tour Championship. ... The Standard Portland Classic on the LPGA is offering exemptions to the winners of the U.S. Women’s Amateur, the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, the British Women’s Amateur and the NCAA champion. It will be the first time the winners of those events are invited to the same LPGA tournament. ... Scottie Scheffler tied for 24th at Bay Hill and surpassed eight-time winner Tiger Woods on the Arnold Palmer Invitational's all-time money list.
Stat of the week
Jordan Spieth shared the 54-hole lead and tied for fourth in his debut at The Players Championship in 2014. He has not finished higher than a tie for 19th since then.
Final word
“Just never been thanked for playing an event before.” — Brooks Koepka, whose return to the PGA Tour stipulates that two players are added to the field at tournaments he plays.
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