\n<\/p>\n
Gary Woodland won the Houston Open on Sunday, a moment that seemed improbable 30 months ago when he had brain surgery, and even two weeks ago when he opened up about his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder.<\/p>\n
Woodland looked close to his best at Memorial Park, coasting home to a trophy that felt as important as his US Open title at Pebble Beach in 2019.<\/p>\n
He closed with a three-under 67 to win by five shots over Nicolai Hojgaard. The gallery chanted Woodland\u2019s name before falling silent so he could roll in the winning putt.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe play an individual sport out here, but I wasn\u2019t alone today,\u201d Woodland said, who was in tears after sealing victory. \u201cAnyone struggling with something, I hope they see me and don\u2019t give up. Just keep fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woodland has been a popular figure ever since he joined the PGA Tour. But he began to struggle in 2023, only to learn he had a lesion on his brain that caused him to have unfounded thoughts that he was dying.<\/p>\n
Surgery in September 2023, which involved having a baseball-sized hole cut from the side of his head, removed much of the lesion. He appeared to be fine when he returned to the tour in early 2024, particularly when he was runner-up at last year\u2019s Houston Open.<\/p>\n
But he was suffering with PTSD, once leaving the course in the middle of a round to break down in tears. Two weeks ago he shared his struggles in a Golf Channel interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cI appreciate that love and support. But inside, I feel like I\u2019m dying, and I feel like I\u2019m living a lie,\u201d he said in the interview. \u201cI want to live my dreams and be successful out here. But I want to help people, too. I realize now I\u2019ve got to help myself first.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 41-year-old said this week going public made him feel \u201c1,000lbs lighter.\u201d He says he still has moments in which he struggles, such as when fans got too close to him on the ninth tee on Friday, an incident that made him feel hypervigilant. He said he was in tears after the second round before he reset and got on with his routine.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing out, talking and asking for help, I didn\u2019t do that last year. I didn\u2019t do that early this year,\u201d Woodland said. \u201cI\u2019m in a fight. With the love and support I have around me, I have hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s win was his first victory since the US Open, and the fifth of his career. This one came with a big bonus \u2013 it makes him eligible for the Masters in two weeks.<\/p>\n
Hojgaard and defending champion Min Woo Lee chose to stay back on their way to the 18th green to give Woodland the stage to himself, a gesture rarely seen outside the majors. It spoke to Woodland\u2019s standing on the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought it was appropriate to let him have his moment,\u201d Hojgaard said. \u201cIt was a pretty cool moment for Gary and it was cool to see. I\u2019m really happy for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woodland felt huge relief by sharing his PTSD struggles, but says his recovery from his brain surgery is ongoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just another day. Today was a good day,\u201d Woodland said with a smile and a short laugh. \u201cBut I\u2019ve got a big fight ahead of me, and I\u2019m going to keep going. But I\u2019m proud of myself right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
His wife, Gabby Granado, was with him on the course while their three children stayed at home. Woodland has said Granado was vital to his recovery. \u201cThis has been hard on me. It\u2019s been a lot harder on her,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The victory moves Woodland to No 51 in the world \u2013 his highest ranking in five years \u2013 and makes him eligible for all the PGA Tour\u2019s remaining elite events this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gary Woodland won the Houston Open on Sunday, a moment that seemed improbable 30 months ago when he had brain surgery, and even two weeks ago when he opened up about his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder. Woodland looked close to his best at Memorial Park, coasting home to a trophy that felt as important<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[2121,131,9076,3654,1547,7026,3866,1588,1032,1589,2833,1975,23608],"class_list":{"0":"post-47627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-brain","9":"tag-day","10":"tag-gary","11":"tag-golf","12":"tag-good","13":"tag-houston","14":"tag-open","15":"tag-ptsd","16":"tag-struggles","17":"tag-surgery","18":"tag-today","19":"tag-wins","20":"tag-woodland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}