Gary Woodland says why Scottie Scheffler’s coach called him ‘soft’ before totally changing his game
· Yahoo Sports
Gary Woodland has gone through some extremely challenging times away from the golf course over the past few years.
Woodland must have to pinch himself at times when he’s playing on the PGA Tour in tournaments like the Texas Children’s Houston Open.
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The 41-year-old underwent successful brain surgery in September 2023 to remove a tumor.
However, despite that successful operation, Woodland has been open about his struggles with anxiety and fear caused by PTSD from the brain operation he went through.
All of his fellow PGA Tour players are right behind the 2019 U.S. Open champion.
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesWoodland singled out Scottie Scheffler as someone who really rallied around him. The duo know each other very well, and they have the same golf coach – Randy Smith.
The Kansas-born major champion has now credited Smith with changing his game after he started working with him again 18 months ago.
Why Scottie Scheffler’s coach called Gary Woodland ‘soft’
Scheffler withdrew from the Houston Open earlier this week with his wife, Meredith, set to give birth to their second child.
And with the world number one not in the field, everyone else will feel like their chances of winning the tournament have increased.
Woodland is certainly one of those players, and he’s in a great position after carding an opening round of six-under-par 64 at Memorial Park.
He has taken his ball-striking to a whole new level this season, and is currently leading the driving distance and ball-speed rankings on the PGA Tour, according to The Golfing Gazette.
After he finished his first round on Thursday, Woodland spoke to reporters and was asked about his improved ball-striking.
“Actually made an iron change, I switched shafts,“ Woodland admitted.
“Last week — I just haven’t hit it very well this year, iron play, driver’s been great. I’ve been tinkering a little bit. My speed is definitely back to where it’s been.
“The last couple years it was down and it’s back now. I switched back to an old iron shaft that I played forever and it tightened everything up. My misses were better today. It felt comfortable out there. That was really nice.“
Woodland was then asked whether he has moved to stiffer shafts.
“It is. It’s a shaft that I played all through ’18, ’19, I think ’15, ’16, ’17. I played it for a long time,” Woodland said.
Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images“Switched out of it last year just because my speed had dropped and I was trying to find something that was a little more forgiving.
“My speed’s back and I put those babies back in and it was nice. I’ll credit Randy (Smith). I didn’t hit it well there for about three, four years.
“He kind of — I went back to him a year and a half ago, whatever it was. He pretty much called me soft, told me I was kind of guiding it, and that’s not ever how I played in my whole life.
“He wanted me to get back to swinging hard and aggressive, kind of playing to my strengths. It’s been a process to get there, but we’re starting to swing at it again like I used to, I think. Definitely comes with some confidence.“
Gary Woodland is so grateful after his PTSD admission
Woodland has received plenty of support from everyone involved with the PGA Tour since opening up about his struggles ahead of The Players Championship two weeks ago.
After his first round in Houston on Thursday, he was asked how his fellow PGA Tour pros have responded.
“The response has been — it’s been big, and it’s also been big for me because I got a lot of relief,“ Woodland admitted.
“I literally feel like I got a thousand pounds off my back that day. It was hard to do. I was crying going into the interview and I left feeling a thousand pounds lighter.
“I have a battle that I’m fighting, but it’s nice to not do that alone, I can tell you that.
“We’ll take it one day at a time and continue to get better. But the Tour out here is a family and they’ve been amazing.
“The golf world’s been amazing and I’m very thankful.“
Woodland really does have everyone behind him and it’s fair to say that there won’t be a more popular winner than him, whenever he does manage to get over the line again on the PGA Tour.