Gary Woodland's 'still healing' from brain surgery, making PNC debut
Adam Schupak- Gary Woodland is making his debut at the PNC Championship with his father, Dan.
- Woodland became eligible for the tournament after his 2019 U.S. Open victory.
- The father-son duo is playing after both have dealt with recent health challenges.
- Woodland is still recovering from surgery for a brain tumor and its lingering symptoms.
Shortly after winning the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Gary Woodland started ticking off all the spoils of victory. Near the top of the list? Being eligible to play in the PNC Championship, a two-person team event for major winners and those who have won the Players Championship.
“That was one of the first things that came to mind was that we'd have an opportunity to play in this,” said Woodland on Thursday.
But in recent years, Gary has undergone surgery for a brain tumor and Dan has dealt with a cancer diagnosis of his own. Now, the time has finally come. Woodland, 41, is making his debut in the 36-hole best-ball tournament at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, which begins Saturday, with his father, Dan.
With tournament regulars Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas both recovering from back surgeries, Gary got the invite. His kids are too young – son Jaxson is 8 and twin daughters Maddox and Lennox are six – so he reached out to dear, old dad, a formidable basketball coach who coached Gary in most sports other than golf. But he did introduce Gary to the game as a kid and has been there for much of his son’s journey as a pro beginning at the 2009 Sony Open in Hawaii.
“Birdied his first hole. We were so excited. 'Hey, man, this might be easy,' ” Dan recalled thinking.
“It wasn't,” Gary shot back.
A four-time winner on the PGA Tour, Gary hasn’t won since the Open at Pebble and finished 90th in the FedEx Cup season-long standings as he continues to deal with symptoms from his brain tumor.
“I'm still healing, right? At the end of the day, I've still got a tumor in my head on my brain. It hasn't grown in two years, so we're good with that, but it's in a part of the brain that causes me a lot of issues, and I'm still battling and grinding with it,” he said. “I'm getting better. The surgeons and doctors are happy with where I'm at, but I have a long way to go.“
Gary said this is the first time he’s been healthy enough to play in the PNC and he didn’t hesitate to call his dad about being his partner.
“How can you turn this opportunity down? It's awesome,” said Dan. “Then after a while, I started thinking, I haven't played much here lately. I've got to start grinding.”
And grind he did. Dan said he’s hit more balls since getting word of their debut appearance in the PNC that he has in the past 25 years.
“He helped me so much,” Dan said of his son. “He took so much pressure off. He just said, hey, hit a couple fairways, make a couple putts. We'll have fun.”
Added Dan: “I can't think of a better way to start the holidays. Got the whole family here, the grandkids here. My daughter's here (to caddie for him). My wife's here. I'm excited.”