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Gary Woodland has struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder from brain surgery to the point where he has broken down in tears on the golf course. Two weeks after Woodland opened up about his mental health issues in an emotional interview, he rolled in his final putt, exhaled and broke down in tears on March 29 after winning the Texas Children's Houston Open.
It was Woodland's first PGA victory in seven years, and it came two and a half years after he underwent brain surgery. 'We play an individual sport, but I wasn’t alone today,' he said on the broadcast. 'I got a lot of people behind me. My team, my familiy and this golf world. Anybody that's struggling with something, I hope they see me and don't give up. Just keep fighting.' Here's what to know about Woodland's journey. Why Did Gary Woodland Have Brain Surgery? Woodland underwent a craniotomy in the fall of 2023, during which doctors removed a benign lesion from his brain through a baseball-sized hole in his skull. The lesion, Woodland found out, was responsible for the anxiety and panic attacks that affected his sleep. During the day, it made him hypervigilant on the course. The lesion caused him to often have fears that he was dying, according to the Golf Channel. The tumor was pressing against the part of his brain that controls the fear response, according to The Athletic. Woodland returned to the golf course 115 days after his surgery to play at the Sony Open in Hawaii in 2024. While he outwardly appeared to be back to his old self, he shared that he was far from healed inside. What Has Gary Woodland Shared About His PTSD? Woodland reached out to Golf Channel to conduct an interview on March 10 because he wanted to publicly reveal his struggles with PTSD in the hope of helping others in a similar situation. The 41-year-old golfer and father of three said he continued to experience fear, anxiety and overstimulation in the wake of the surgery. 'I'm still struggling,' he said. Woodland shared that he was diagnosed in March 2025 with PTSD, which is a mental health condition caused by a stressful or terrifying event, according to Mayo Clinic. 'It's been hard,' Woodland said. 'It's a battle that I didn't understand when we started.' He described returning to the PGA Tour but devoting much of his energy to privately managing his PTSD symptoms. 'I appreciate that love and support, but inside I feel like I'm dying and I feel like I'm living a lie,' he said. 'I don't want to waste energy on that anymore.' Woodland spoke about one tournament where an official walking behind him caused him to become hypervigilant, resulting in blurred vision. 'I stepped aside, I pulled my caddie and said, 'This stuff is hitting me, man. You can't let anybody get behind me,'' he told Golf Channel. 'Next thing you know, I couldn't remember what I was doing. My eyesight started to get blurry. And a hole later, I just said, 'Butch, I can't handle it.' And I start bawling in the middle of the fairway. It was my turn to hit, and I couldn't hit.' He has since spoken with military veterans experiencing PTSD, and they told him that it's important to realize he can't fight it on his own. His wife, Gabby, has been by his side throughout his ordeal and was there to witness his triumph in Houston. Two weeks after he revealed his struggles in the Golf Channel interview, he walked to the 18th green to hear the crowd chanting his name before polishing off his first win in seven years. 'Right now, I hope somebody that's struggling that's battling this sees me out here still fighting and battling and trying to live my dreams, and that gives them a little hope,' he told Golf Channel.
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