U.S. Open Champion Gary Woodland Returns to Golf After Brain Tumor: ‘He Got a Mulligan in Life’

Gary Woodland is back on the golf course and getting back to his old self after a brain tumor diagnosis that “came out of nowhere” last year. Woodland, 39, spoke with The Associated Press this week about his recovery from brain surgery last September and what it means for him to be back on the course this weekend in Honolulu, Hawaii at the Sony Open.

“I just want to prove that you can do hard things,” Woodland told the outlet. “I want to prove to my kids that no one is going to tell you that you can’t do anything. You can overcome difficult, scary decisions in your life. Not everything is simple. This came out of nowhere for me, but I’m not going to let it stop me.”

The former US Open champion began having unfounded fears last April, according to the AP, including hand tremors, night terrors, chills and showing uncharacteristically low energy on court.

He would line up for shots, feel like he was taking too long and just swing, he told the AP. At home, he would wake up in the middle of the night clutching the edge of the mattress.

“A big [symptom] I just didn’t feel like myself, Woodland said Golf Digest in another interview this week.

Tiger Woods announces divorce from Nike after 27 years: ‘Another chapter’

Gary Woodland.

Warren Little/Getty

When the golf pro finally saw a doctor about his growing anxiety, an MRI instead revealed he had a brain tumor. “He’s like, you’re not going crazy, are you,” Woodland recalls the doctor telling him. “Everything you experience is common and normal for a place in your brain.”

Woodland continued to play, knowing his diagnosis. He competed in 10 tournaments and made eight cuts, meaning he sat high enough in the leaderboard to qualify for the final days of each tournament and play for first place.

Never miss a story – sign up PEOPLE’free daily newsletter to keep you updated with the best information PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

But he opted for surgery in September, when doctors drilled a hole in his skull that the AP reports was the size of a baseball. The tumor was benign and Woodland’s fears seemed to have disappeared, but his recovery was arduous. Woodland has gone a month and a half without fully swinging a golf club, and this weekend’s Sony Open marks his first full return to the sport. “The support from the tour, from people outside of the golf world, has been huge for me and my family,” Woodland told the AP. “When I woke up and realized I was fine, I was filled with gratitude and love. It replaced fear.”

PGA Tour Masters champion Mike Weir got married Bachelor Alum Michelle Money in Hawaii: See Photos! (Exclusive)

Gary Woodland.

Ross Kinnaird/Getty

Woodland told the newspaper that he spent more than four months last summer “really thinking I was going to die” before he had the tumor removed. “The doctors told me I was fine, but this thing pushing my brain… it didn’t matter if I was driving a car, on a plane, I thought everything was going to kill me. You can imagine how I felt before the operation when I had to open my head and operate on it. The fear that went into it was terrible.”

Now Woodland is ready to get back to normal and “be competitive very quickly,” he said Golf Digest. “I’m looking forward to being back and where I am and I expect to be ready very soon.”

Gary Woodland.

Jared C. Tilton/Getty

His family — including wife Gabby, son Jax and twins Maddox and Lennox — and friends, like golf instructor Butch Harmon, are also rooting for his return to the PGA Tour, where he has won four tournament championships during his career. to go through that and get back to golf is a joy,” Harmon told the AP. “He got a mulligan in life, a mulligan in his career.”

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education