Gary Woodland is easier now. The best golf has followed and is on display this week in Houston.
Two weeks ago at The Players Championship, Woodland unloaded himself in an emotional interview with Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard, where the 2019 US Open champion revealed he was diagnosed with PTSD after a Brain procedure to remove a tumor in 2023. Woodland said doctors told him that “in an ideal world,” he would not compete on the PGA Tour.
“My answer was, in an ideal world, I don’t have that. This is my dream and this is what I’m going to do, and as hard as it is, I’m going to play,” Woodland told Hoggard. “I want to live my dreams and I want to be successful here, but I also want to help people, but I understand that now I have to help myself first.”
Woodland missed four of his first six cuts in 2026, but he posted a T14 at last week’s Valspar Championship and reached Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston, a place where he finished T2 last year, feeling better about the daily battle he faces and his dream to compete and win again on the PGA Tour.
On Thursday, Woodland’s improved play continued as he opened with a 64 to put himself in contention early in the match. Texas for Kids at the Houston Open.
“I literally feel like I got a thousand pounds off my back that day,” Woodland said Thursday of revealing his PTSD diagnosis. “It was hard to do. I was crying going into the interview and I walked away feeling a thousand pounds lighter. I have a battle going on, but it’s good not to do it alone, I can tell you that. We’ll take it one day at a time and keep getting better. But the tournament here is a family and they’ve been great. The world of golf has been very good to me.”
Discovering Woodland’s PTSD is a big key to his latest turn on the course. He feels free, like he doesn’t have to hide what he’s going through. But while the decision to open up is the clear catalyst for Gary Woodland’s turnaround, it’s not the only piece of the puzzle. Just the one that helped bring it all together.
A year and a half ago, Woodland went back to his coach, Randy Smith, and made some adjustments to his swing that have him leading the PGA Tour in driving distance.
“He kind of called me soft, told me I was leading him on, and I’ve never played like that in my entire life,” Woodland said of Smith. “He wanted me to get back to strong, aggressive moves, playing to my strengths. It’s been a process to get there, but we’re starting to move like we used to again.”
While Woodland has outscored everyone on the PGA Tour, his iron game hasn’t been adjusted for him to take advantage of his length off the fairway. But Woodland made an axle change at last week’s Valspar, switching to the axles he used from 2015-2019, and they’re already paying dividends.
“It’s a shaft I’ve played all through ’18, ’19, I think ’15, ’16, ’17. I’ve played it for a long time,” Woodland said. “I got off of it last year just because my speed was down and I was trying to find something that was more forgiving. My speed came back and I put those babies back on and it was good.”
Woodland followed up his first-round 64 with a 7-under 63 to enter the weekend at 13-under, holding a three-shot lead over Nicolai Hojgaard and Jackson Suber.
Woodland knows a lot can happen over 36 holes. But on a golf course that allows him to be aggressive in front of a crowd hoping to win him over, it’s all in front of a fired-up Gary Woodland this weekend in Houston.
“There’s no question, and I feed off of that,” Woodland said of the Houston crowd. “This, like every week, I feel like I’ve had a lot of support. I feel like I’m playing at home. The fans have been great. I need that energy to get me through the day, which definitely helps. That’s something I hope I can carry through this weekend.”
As for what it would mean if he was the one to lift the trophy on Sunday, Woodland wouldn’t let himself get that far into the future. Like every day, he’s taking it one step at a time.
“I’m proud of myself for the way I played,” Woodland said. “Like I said, 36 holes, keep doing what I’ve been doing and then we’ll see where we end up.”
