|

Gary Woodland: Court. Course. Champion.

For half his life, Gary Woodland has been forced to play catch-up as a professional golfer.

He didn’t become serious about the sport until his sophomore year in college, and that was only because he realized he wasn’t going to make a living playing his first love, basketball.

But catch up he has.

That moment became complete last summer at picturesque Pebble Beach, when Woodland held off fellow Palm Beach County resident Brooks Koepka to win the U.S. Open.

Thanks to a daring approach on a par-5 and a clutch chip on a par-3, Woodland won his first major by three shots, denying Koepka’s dreams of winning his third consecutive national championship. In doing so, Woodland validated his decision to leave the hardwood for the links, to make putts instead of three-pointers.

“I’ve worked hard my whole life,” said the 36-year-old Woodland. “I’ve been surrounded by amazing people and I always just wanted to be successful. I didn’t know what it was, what I was going to do. I fell in love with golf, and it transcended into winning the U.S. Open.

Perhaps it’s fitting that, with Woodland’s late arrival as a major champion, the Delray Beach resident has gotten to keep the 18-inch silver trophy for two extra months because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Woodland will have to hand the prized possession back to the USGA – at least temporarily – when the re-scheduled U.S. Open is held Sept. 17-20 at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York.

But they can’t take away the memories or the confidence he gained during that magical week along the Pacific Ocean.

“I know I can beat the best players in the world any given week,” Woodland said.

Woodland, who moved to South Florida two years ago, didn’t always believe he could play golf at the highest level. Despite winning junior tournaments, he turned down a golf scholarship offer from in-state Kansas to play basketball at Division II Washburn University.

It took the 6-foot-1, 195-pound guard all of one game – ironically, against the Kansas Jayhawks – to realize he wasn’t going to be playing in the NBA.

“I was guarding Kirk Hinrich, and, like, ‘OK, I need to find something else, because this ain’t gonna work,’” Woodland said. “I was a two-time State champion, All-State, blah, blah, blah, but that was a different level.”

Woodland called Kansas golf coach Ross Randall and asked if he could still have the scholarship.

Woodland transferred to Kansas the next year and started hitting fairways instead of jumpers.

But starting to concentrate on golf at 19 was like hitting a driver 270 yards on the PGA Tour. Woodland always has been able to hit the ball a long way, but experience-wise he was miles behind his contemporaries who had been playing golf since they were old enough to swing a club.

“I’ve always been a little behind guys who have been doing this their whole life.”

– Gary Woodland

He had to go to his own hurry-up mode.

“I’ve always been a little behind guys who have been doing this their whole life,” Woodland said. “And that gets frustrating at some point, because my whole life I’ve been able to compete and win at everything I’ve done, and I haven’t been able to do that as much as I’d like to in golf.”

Woodland had to go to Q School twice to make it to the PGA Tour. He didn’t win his first PGA Tour event until he was 27.

The U.S. Open, his fourth PGA Tour title, proved Woodland has finally caught – and passed – most of his peers. He has remained in the top 25 in the world rankings during the past year.

Personality-wise, he’s in the top five. Maybe it’s his Midwest roots or his humble start in a humbling sport.

You could go to every PGA Tour event and not find a player who has something bad to say about Woodland.

“Gary Woodland is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet on the PGA Tour,” Justin Leonard said. “A real sweetheart.”

“His story is compelling,” said Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee, who first met Woodland in a pro-am in Orlando a decade ago. “It’s easy to pull for Gary.”

Yet Woodland has experienced his misfortune. Three years ago, he and wife, Gabby, lost an unborn daughter while she was delivering twins. Their son, Jaxson, survived.

When Woodland won his third PGA Tour title, in Phoenix in 2018 to end a five-year drought, he patted his heart, blew a kiss and pointed to the sky in honor of his late daughter.

“I just wanted her to know I still love her,” Woodland said.

Gabby suffered two miscarriages in 2018, but as fate would have it, she became pregnant again and delivered identical twin girls, Maddox and Lennox, two months after his 2019 U.S. Open win – which normally ends on Father’s Day.

Just not this year.

Woodland had another emotional moment at last year’s Waste Management Open in Phoenix when he invited Amy Bockerstette, a collegiate golfer with Down syndrome, to play the par-3 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale during a practice round.

Bockerstette wowed the crowd – and Woodland – by making a par on the hole. A video of the scene received almost 50 million views on social media.

Woodland and Amy became friends. The night before the final round at Pebble Beach, Amy sent

Woodland a three-word text: “You got this.”

Woodland said he thought about those words during the final round. When he decided to hit a 3-wood into the par-5 14th and made birdie to give him a two-shot lead and when he chipped off the par-3 17th green to 6 inches to clinch the victory.

He got this.

Expect to see those highlights, along with interviews of Amy, leading up to this month’s U.S. Open.

Our national championship, like Woodland’s road to success, has taken longer than expected because of COVID-19.

But it will be well worth the wait.

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *