Woodland 'feared death' before successful brain surgery

Gary Woodland returns to PGA Tour action at the Sony Open in Hawaii

Former US Open champion Gary Woodland says he feared death after being diagnosed with a lesion on his brain in May of last year that resulted in successful surgery in September.

Woodland, who won his maiden major title at Pebble Beach in 2019, will make his competitive return to golf in this week’s Sony Open in Hawaii, after less than four months out of the game.

The 39-year-old said he dealt with loss of appetite and energy, jolting awake in the middle of the night, tremors and an overwhelming feeling of fear until doctors could figure out what was wrong.

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“That was the one that scared me the most,” Woodland said of his symptoms, when addressing reporters this week.

“I’m a very optimistic person. I believe good things will happen. I was very fear-driven every day, mostly around death…

“The jolting and everything I was experiencing at night was partial seizures. The lesion in my brain sat on the part of my brain that controls fear and anxiety.

“[The doctor], he’s like, ‘You’re not going crazy. Everything you’re experiencing is common and normal for where this thing is sitting in your brain.'”

Woodland was put on medication to control his anxiety but, as he explained: “The meds I was on were working for the seizures but were horrible for me as a person. I had horrible side effects.”

‘I would forget which club I’m hitting’

One of those side effects was memory loss, which would severely hamper Woodland as he continued to play on the PGA Tour during this time.

Of the 10 tournaments Woodland appeared in with his symptoms, eight times on medication, remarkably he made eight out of 10 cuts.

It wasn’t as easy as it sounds though. “I would be standing over a club and forget which club I’m hitting,” he said.

“I would be lining up putts and think, ‘This is taking too long. I’m just going to hit it’.

“I didn’t have the focus or the energy.”

Woodland eventually announced his exit from the PGA Tour in August and underwent brain surgery on September 18.

“They couldn’t get it all out from where it was located but it was benign,” Woodland said. “If it was cancerous they would’ve removed it all. They removed as much as they could.”

He added: “The support from the Tour, from people outside the golf world, has been tremendous for me and my family.

“When I woke up and realised I was okay, I was filled with thankfulness and love. That replaced the fear.

“It was very emotional because I had gone four-and-a-half months of every day thinking I was going to die.

“The doctors kept telling me I was okay, but this thing pushing on my brain… it didn’t matter if I was driving a car, on an airplane, I thought everything was going to kill me.

“You can imagine leading up to surgery how I felt going into having my head cut open and operated on. The fear going into that was awful.”

‘I believe great things are ahead’

Following his ordeal, Woodland is relishing returning to golf and is determined to “jump start” his career.

“It’s been a long process. One that maybe even a couple weeks ago I didn’t know if this week was possible,” he said. “It’s been a journey, but this was a goal of mine from surgery to be back.

“They track it [the lesion] every three months now with an MRI and I had a little tough spell leading up to the MRI a couple weeks ago because I was a little nervous, but everything came back well…

“At the end of the day, I just want to prove you can do hard things. I want to prove to my kids nobody is going to tell you that you can’t do anything.

“You can overcome tough, scary decisions in your life. Not everything is easy.”

Woodland added: “I don’t want this to be a bump in the road for me. I want it to be a jump start in my career.

“At the end of the day, I’m here because I believe this is what I’ve been born to do, play great golf.

“I want to do that again. Nothing is going to stop me… I believe that. I believe a lot of great things are ahead.”

Watch the Sony Open in Hawaii throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live early coverage begins on Thursday from 5pm on Sky Sports Golf, ahead of full coverage from midnight. Stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA Tour and more on NOW.

Woodland last featured at the Wyndham Championship in August

Woodland claimed his maiden major victory at the 2019 US Open