PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Gary Woodland smiled as he made par at the 18th hole Sunday at the Players Championship, but it was a false mask he was showing the fans.
The 2019 U.S. Open champion never was in the mix to win as he finished hours before the leaders teed off, but just getting to the weekend is a victory for Woodland, who has struggled not with his game but his health.
Last September, Woodland had surgery to remove a majority of a tumor from his brain and since then Woodland has struggled to deal with a health issue that may be with him longer than he ever imagined.
And it's changing his life every day.
“My game is a lot better than my health,” Woodland told Sports Illustrated. “I just don't feel very good, it's been hard to be honest with you.”
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Since playing in the Genesis Invitational, where he made his first cut of the season and finished T39, Woodland has had some health setbacks.
Setbacks that include fogginess, tiredness, cloudiness, loss of energy around 2 in the afternoon and symptoms that just pop up that Woodland calls unusual.
“I just came back probably a little too early, but just still learning every day,” Woodland said. “It's potluck, I don’t know if I’m going to feel better when I wake up.”
The doctors made some changes to his medicine last week, with a larger dose at night and smaller ones in the morning to hopefully give Woodland some relief throughout the day.
The hope with the different regimen is he will sleep through the medicine's rougher parts and ultimately start to feel better after a week. He's scheduled to play this week at the Valspar Championship outside Tampa, Fla.
Woodland will have his next MRI in three weeks but due the recent difficulties, he will travel to Orlando before Tampa on Monday to visit a brain clinic for tests to understand the issues and potential treatment.
“It's been tough. We hope it's the meds, pray It's the meds,” Woodland said. “But I was hoping to get off the meds in three weeks, but after the last month, it's gonna be a while now. So, it just feels off and that part doesn't translate well to the game.”
At the same time as his life is ever-changing he is trying to compete with the best players in the world, which may be the easiest part of the whole equation. Woodland and his coaches believe he is playing better than he has in a while.
“I talk to my coaches, and they say this is the best I've seen you in years,” Woodland said. “And obviously I've dealt with some stuff last year, but I haven't played well for a couple of years. And I'm able to hit shots and do things now that I haven't done in a couple years.”
Which makes it frustrating because the game is in a position where he can compete, but his body is just not there.
“The more I've talked to people that have gone through what I've gone through, it's a little longer timetable than I was expecting,” Woodland said. “The problem is, physically I can do anything I want and that's what's the most frustrating part. But when you feel like s---, it's it's hard.”
