Gene Frenette: Gary Woodland comeback from brain surgery an inspiration at The Players Championship

PONTE VEDRA BEACH — One of the most inspiring figures in golf barely survived the cut at The Players Championship after making three bogeys Friday on his last four holes. 

While Gary Woodland was disappointed by that finish, it doesn’t change the fact the 2019 U.S. Open champion remains easily one of the most positively uplifting stories in recent PGA Tour memory. 

His tale of medical woe won’t go down as one for the history books like the legendary Ben Hogan being hit head-on by a bus in 1949, being sidelined for one year, then returning to win six more majors. 

Still, this comeback by the popular and beloved Woodland is plenty memorable for many in the golf world.

Look to the future:The Players Championship at 100 years old: What will the golf and watching it be like in 2074?

Just six months ago, Woodland underwent brain surgery to remove a benign lesion. The operation came five months after he began developing symptoms last April that got so bad, it figuratively scared him to death. 

As the tumor in his brain grew, though never diagnosed as cancerous, the 39-year-old Kansas native went from being a cheerful, optimistic person to one paranoid about almost everything and constantly fearing for his life. 

That’s because he went through the nighttime rituals of experiencing tremors and jolting, partial seizures that were traced to the lesion that Woodland said in January “sat on the part of my brain that controls fear and anxiety.” 

He continued to play on Tour in 2023 despite five months of uncertainty about his medical condition or how doctors would treat the symptoms. 

Woodland — who told his story in detail at the Sony Open and, with one exception, has since declined interview requests to talk about his ordeal — experienced one of his most frightening moments for an hour-long period during one night at the Memorial tournament last June. 

“I would be completely asleep and jump out of the bed and fear would set in,” Woodland said in January. “I have a fear of heights, and fear that I’m falling from heights. I’m laying in bed at 1 [a.m.], grabbing the bed to tell myself I wasn’t falling from heights, I wasn’t dying. 

“Every day, it was a new way of dying, new way of death. The jolting in the middle of the night scared the heck out of me.” 

Terrifying news, then relief 

It’s no wonder Woodland’s presence at any golf tournament, and that was true this week at The Players, has become a source of upliftment for all his peers. 

Many of them were caught completely unaware of what the four-time Tour winner endured until he first went public last August, a month before the operation. 

Justin Thomas, one of Woodland’s close friends on Tour, didn’t learn of his situation until the two were paired together at the 3M Open in Minnesota in late July. Woodland told Thomas during the second round. 

“We just happened to be by ourselves and he told me what was going on, and I about fell to my knees,” said Thomas.  

He jokingly added, “I had like an 8-footer for birdie and I was like, ‘you really think I’m going to make that putt now?’ But it was a big perspective thing, and I’m just so happy that he’s back out here and doing well.” 

Tour member Max Homa, the No. 8-ranked player in the world, is relieved after feeling much trepidation for Woodland. 

“Yeah, it was terrifying,” Homa said Wednesday. “Can’t imagine his family, what they were going through. Gary has always been one of the kindest people to me out here.

“He clearly was going through a lot and kept so much in. … I know that there’s probably still quite a ways to go, but I think everybody was holding their breath the day they knew he had to go in there and get that surgery. So happy to see him back out here and in good spirits.” 

Getting closer to normal 

During a brief chat with Woodland after his Friday round of 73, he told me about his frustration over missing four of five previous cuts in 2024. 

“I’m still not at the energy level I want, but I’m also disappointed that the results aren’t there yet,” he said. 

Truthfully, Woodland expressing dissatisfaction over his golf results is a good thing. It’s another sign to those who know him that the operation’s success, with no sign of recurring symptoms, has allowed Woodland to focus again on his game instead of always wondering if another tremor is coming. 

“It’s just a matter of Gary’s energy and putting it all together,” said Brennan Little, Woodland’s caddie since 2016. “His attitude is really good. Once his body keeps healing, I think he will be fine [with the golf results].” 

Now nearing the end of a six-month period for taking medication, Woodland has been on the schedule doctors projected. He was back hitting golf balls within a six-week time frame after surgery, then waited until January to return to competition. 

But what he endured most of last summer is one of those terrible memories Woodland can never forget. Playing golf in the daytime gave him a reprieve from medical uncertainty. He did it quite respectably by making eight cuts in 10 tournaments before surgery became unavoidable. 

“As the medicine started to increase, my brain started to slow down and the seizures started to stop, which was nice for me because I was able to function during the day,” said Woodland. “The meds I was on were working for the seizures but were horrible for me as a person. I had horrible side effects.” 

Nightmare being 'very fear-driven'

Woodland, who lives in Delray Beach, has profusely thanked people in the golf world and beyond who reached out to offer any assistance for him, his wife Gabby, their 6-year-old son and 4-year-old twin daughters. 

In speaking to the Times-Union about what Woodland went through, Tour commissioner Jay Monahan got a bit emotional just talking about the anxiety he felt for him. 

“I would say when I first heard the news, I was sick to my stomach,” Monahan said. “Gary is one of the most respected players out here. He’s such a quality human being. Beyond the respect his peers have for him, when you look at how tournament organizations and everybody in this world appreciates him, he’s a gem, he’s a treasure. 

“When you get into a moment like this, what happens out here [on Tour] really matters and there are careers and aspirations players are pursuing every day. But this is the ultimate reminder that your life, your family, your health, it’s everything. 

“I’m just so grateful that he’s gotten to a point where he looks as great as he does. He’s healthy, he’s back out here and he’s being the Gary Woodland we all know.” 

But until doctors finally removed most of the lesion (what remains has not grown), Woodland was bewildered about why he felt so off his game from a health standpoint. He went searching for answers to different specialists, then learned everything that happened to him was normal because of the lesion’s location in his brain. 

Until then, life was a horror movie that kept replaying in his head after going to sleep. 

“The big one was I just wasn’t feeling like myself,” Woodland said at the Sony Open. “It was a lot of jolting, especially in the middle of the night. Shaking, hands were really tremoring. 

“A lot of fear. That was the one that scared me the most. … I was very fear-driven every day, mostly around death.” 

Tiger’s ringing endorsement 

If anyone can relate to Woodland’s travails, albeit his medical challenges being a little different, that would be Tiger Woods. 

Besides multiple back and knee surgeries, any hope Woods had for playing some quality golf in his twilight years was sabotaged in 2021 by a one-vehicle accident that kept him out of competition for a year. 

On the day before the Genesis Invitational last month where he serves as tournament host, Woods credited Woodland for his courage. 

“We haven’t had enough conversation about what he’s gone through and how difficult life was for Gary, how scary each and every moment is as he’s afraid of dying, and the anxiety of that and to have a surgery and remove a tumor out of his brain and to come back and play the tour,” Woods said. 

“That’s an unbelievable story. I think that we should applaud him for what he’s been able to overcome.” 

Woodland, already one of the most popular players on Tour before his medical ordeal, is appreciative of all the support he and his family have received. He understands the perspective thing about priorities being on health and family. 

Still, the competitor in him desires to be a tournament contender and hoist another trophy. Woodland shot a third-round 74 at The Players, and stood tied for 68th at 1-over-par going into the final round. That guy who held off a Sunday charge in 2019 by Brooks Koepka, denying him a U.S. Open three-peat at Pebble Beach, wants to have that triumphant feeling again. 

Considering he recovered from needing 30 staples to close up a scar running from his forehead, along the hairline down to his ear, and that his fear of dying is no more, Gary Woodland already has his biggest victory. 

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540; Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @genefrenette