Watch: Former Kansas Golfer Gary Woodland’s Emotional Response to Returning from Brain Surgery
While the sports world can dominate headlines on a weekly basis with some exciting moments in collegiate athletics, real-world problems can take over and shut down sports coverage in an instant.
One textbook example of that fact is former Kansas golfer and PGA professional, Gary Woodland, who recently underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor, and is now back on the course where he belongs.
Woodland detailed a heartfelt response after his return mentioning the lessons he learned along the road to recovery.
“No matter how hard things are and no matter how bad it gets, if you believe and you surround yourself with the right people, you can overcome,” Woodland said. “It’s a message that I’ll remind my kids when I get home. It’s been a hard time for me, and I was able to overcome it. And I’ll be back.”
Woodland announced on Twitter back in August that he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor, and would be getting the lesion surgically removed on September 18th after a few weeks of treatment through antibiotics and medication.
He finished his thoughts by saying, “There was a time where I didn’t know if this was going to be possible. It was a good week for me from a mental standpoint. I needed to be mentally sharp to get to where I want to be in the world. It’s coming back.”
The 39-year-old golfer has had an impressive start to his career playing in 340 events with four PGA tour wins and 251 cuts made. Woodland has finished as a runner-up 10 times, third-place twice, top-five 29 times, top-10 54 times, and has made over $33 million in his career. While the road to recovery is never easy, the world of golf is much better with Gary Woodland on the course.
