Things have not been all thumbs-up for Gary Woodland during his recovery from brain surgery.
TRACY WILCOX, PGA TOUR VIA GETTY IMAGES
Gary Woodland, who counts the 2019 U.S. Open among four PGA Tour victories, revealed that he has battled post-traumatic stress disorder in the months since he underwent brain surgery in September 2023 to remove a benign lesion.
Woodland, 41, went public with his plight in a Golf Channel interview last Monday in advance of the Players Championship. He said he was diagnosed with PTSD about a year ago.
“Every week, I come out and everyone is so excited and happy that I’m back. I hear that every week: ‘It's so nice to see you passed this. It’s so nice to see you 100 percent,’” Woodland explained. “And I appreciate that love and support, but inside, I feel like I’m dying. I feel like I’m living a lie. And I don’t want to waste energy on that anymore. I want to focus my energy on me and my recovery, my dreams out here, my family. I don’t want to waste energy hiding this.”
Woodland recounted an incident at last September’s Procore Championship when his emotions were triggered by a walking scorer who startled him from behind, and he wound up crying in the middle of the fairway. “It was my turn to hit and I couldn’t hit,” he said.
Determined to continue living his dream of playing on the PGA Tour, Woodland hopes to help himself and others by acknowledging his struggles publicly, he said. READ MORE
“I’m still heartbroken from the Ryder Cup. So trying my best to separate myself and move on, but it’s hard. I think about it a lot. I think about the guys a lot, and I’m still in the process of getting past all that.”
Keegan Bradley, captain of the 2025 U.S. team that lost, 15-13, to Europe.
A year after PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan declared that “our team is fully committed to reunification,” new CEO Brian Rolapp made it clear that forging any alliance with LIV Golf is not a priority on his watch.
“I think I’ve been clear about this – my brief is to make the PGA Tour better,” Rolapp said on Wednesday ahead of the Players Championship. “I’m open to whatever makes the PGA Tour better. That is my brief. Better for fans, better for our members. So that’s what I’m focused on, and that’s where I put all my efforts.”
When asked if top LIV golfers might be welcome to compete in the Players Championship if it would help the tour’s flagship event gain major championship status, Rolapp reiterated his position.
“That’s not sort of a priority I’ve put on my list,” he said. “So that’s not something I’ve sort of considered to date. There’s other priorities other than that.”
Rolapp is not caught up in the ongoing debate about whether or not the Players should be considered a major.
“We take a lot of pride in the Players, and with all the major talk, some may say even too much pride,” he said. “Ultimately, that is not for us to decide.
“I will say the one thing I learned is our marketing department’s really effective,” he later noted, referencing a promotional video for the Players that declared “March is going to be major.” “They made one commercial spot, and we’re all having this conversation, which is really interesting. Kudos to them.
“I think what’s important, that’s not for us to decide. What is important is that this is a pretty special event and I think among the best events in golf. So I think anyone you talk to – players, fans, partners – they will tell you the same thing, and I think that should be celebrated.” READ MORE
As Tommy Fleetwood prepared for the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass early last week, his family was among those trying to depart Dubai amid a widening Middle East war.
Fleetwood’s wife, Clare, and their three children flew from Dubai to England last Wednesday following one cancelled flight and multiple delays to another, the 35-year-old Englishman told Golf Channel Thursday after his opening 69 on the Stadium Course.
“They got lucky [with their flight],” he said. “It wasn’t easy and it was unsettling, although it’s easy for me to say that while I’m in Ponte Vedra, but it was unsettling for them.” READ MORE
Tap-Ins
Smylie Kaufman’s role with Golf Channel is expanding. The former PGA Tour player joined the network’s “Live From” telecasts at the Players Championship and will do so from other tournaments for the rest of 2026, Sports Business Journal first reported. The move follows Johnson Wagner’s departure for CBS. READ MORE
Past U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover’s popular show on Sirius/XM Radio’s PGA Tour Network is going off the air, he said last week. Glover, 46, was recently elected chairman of the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council. READ MORE
Commenting to Front Office Sports, the president of Golf Channel parent Versant’s USA Sports division suggested that the network isn’t interested in selling an equity stake to the PGA Tour. “I think our M&A strategy is more about us acquiring properties than vice versa,” Matt Hong said. READ MORE
“Chasing Sunday,” billed as an all-access look at the Players Championship produced by PGA Tour Studios in collaboration with NFL Films – and modeled after NFL Films’ “Hard Knocks” series chronicling pro football – will premiere Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on the PGA Tour YouTube channel and PGATour.com. READ MORE
Compiled by Mike Cullity
