Golfer Gary Woodland says he is battling post-traumatic stress disorder after undergoing brain surgery in 2023, adding he won’t “waste any energy” trying to hide it.
Tests revealed that Woodland, who won the US Open in 2019 and has four wins on the PGA Tour, underwent surgery in September 2023 after tests revealed a lesion pressing on his brain. Woodland returned to the PGA Tour in 2024, but was still showing symptoms because doctors were unable to remove the entire tumor.
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“Every week I go out and compete and everyone is so excited and happy that I’m back. They say to me every week, ‘I’m so glad you passed. I’m so glad to see you at 100 percent,'” Woodland told Golf Channel. “I appreciate the love and support, but inside I feel like I’m dying. I feel like I’m living a lie. And I don’t want to waste my energy on that anymore. I want to focus on myself and my recovery and my dreams here and my family. I don’t want to waste my energy hiding this.”
Woodland said that while he was competing in the Pro Core Championship last September, he was scared because the scorers in his group were too close to him, but he continued to play in the tournament. There were times when he would put on his sunglasses and go to the bathroom and cry.
“I stepped aside, pulled my caddy and said, ‘This is what’s coming at me, I’m not going to let anybody go behind me,'” he said. “The next thing I knew, I couldn’t remember what I was doing. My vision started going blurry. And after the hole, I just said, ‘Butch, I can’t take it anymore.’ And I started barking in the middle of the fairway. It was my turn to hit, and I didn’t hit it.”
Woodland, 41, will compete this week at The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
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“The doctors said that in an ideal world, I probably wouldn’t be playing,” Woodland said. “Maybe I wouldn’t be in a stressful, overstimulating environment. But my answer was, in an ideal world, I don’t have (PTSD). (Golf) is my dream and this is what I’m going to do. And no matter how difficult it is, I’m going to play.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gary Woodland shares golfer’s PTSD diagnosis after brain surgery
