Gary

Woodland

Woodland shared the news on social media, “I was diagnosed a few months ago and have been trying to treat symptoms with medication.” He would go on to add, “We’ve made the decision that surgery to remove the lesion is the best course of action.” Woodland’s surgery is scheduled for September 18th and he stated he’s in good spirits as he readies for the procedure. The Kansas Jayhawk is coming off a season where he finished 94th in the FedExCup standings.

The Kansas Jayhawk was locked in with his ball-striking this week as he gained 2.6 strokes off-the-tee (11th) en route to landing 52 greens in regulation (1st). He ended the week with a whopping +9.8 strokes gained on approach. This comes just a week after gaining 3.8 strokes at TPC Scottsdale and he’s now gained at least 3.8 strokes on approach in four of his last eight starts. Despite the strong iron play he’s finished outside of the top 40 in 10 of his last 12 starts, posting top 10s in the other two. If he maintains this level of striking, a few more of those big finishes should come his way in 2023.

Both Woodland and Mullinax turned in rounds of 6-under 65 to set the early pace in South Carolina, but it was a different story in Round 2 as the 1-over 72 from Mullinax would have won a theoretical head-to-head with Woodland. The former U.S. Open champ struggled to a 2-over 73, a score that beat only seven players among the 78-man field Friday. Woodland suffered a pair of double bogeys on Nos. 13 and 18, the latter the result of a watery approach, and at 4 under he’s now T-23 and seven shots back. Mullinax birdied his opening hole but faded late, with three bogeys over his final six holes to drop to 5 under and T-18.

Woodland put on a ball-striking clinic today with 11-of-14 fairways hit and 16 GIR (T1). That steady iron play resulted in him gaining strokes on approach on 14 holes today (+3.3 SG:APP). “Playing from the fairway out here is a huge advantage and I was able to attack a little bit from there as well. All in all, I had all three aspect of driving, ball-striking, putting going on and it was a good day.” The highlight of his round came at the closing, par-4 18th where he drained a 21'11" birdie bomb to go out in style. Woodland has opened his season with a T64-MC-WD trio of finishes but he’s off to a much better start this week at Congaree Golf Club. If this co-lead holds then it’d go in the books as his fifth career first-round lead or co-lead on the PGA TOUR, and first since the 2019-20 ZOZO Championship.

Woodland opened with a 3-under 68 at TPC Summerlin, but his second round got derailed by a triple bogey on his second hole of the day (No. 11). He bounced back with three birdies over his next five holes to level the scorecard but pulled the plug after pushing his drive on No. 18, his ninth hole of the day, into the right rough. It’s another physical setback for Woodland, who has largely battled his body since lifting the U.S. Open trophy more than three years ago at Pebble Beach. He finished T-10 at this year’s U.S. Open at Brookline, and followed that with a T-30 finish at the Scottish Open. But since then he had missed three of five cuts prior to this week and hadn’t registered a top-50 finish.

Woodland went out in the tougher, afternoon conditions and struggled with the driver, finding just 3-of-13 fairways. “It was a tough day. A lot of crosswinds. I didn’t drive it as well as I did yesterday and that was really the difference. Outside of that, I played well. I hit a lot of good putts that didn’t go in.” Woodland swallowed six bogeys today while managing four birdies. Woodland has now been T14 or better after five of his last six rounds played and appears to be rounding into form just in time for the 150th Open at St. Andrews.

Woodland lit some fireworks early when he splashed home a 21-footer for eagle at the par-5 third hole. At press time, he is one of just two golfers to record an eagle there this morning. He saved par from 9 feet at the eighth to keep his momentum rolling and found a few bonus birdies on his way into the clubhouse. First, was a 27'1" birdie bomb at the 17th and he ended his day with a chip-in birdie at the 18th. It was a balanced attack today with +3.3 strokes tee-to-green and +3.4 strokes putting. Woodland has missed the cut in three of his last five starts but did twirl a T10 in his latest start, at the U.S. Open.

The 38-year-old, who checked in off consecutive missed cuts, most recently at the Memorial two weeks ago (73-76), was T40 at the midpoint (69-73) but rallied with a 69-69 weekend for his fourth top 10 in 42 majors, first since his win at the 2019 U.S. Open (Pebble Beach) 11 majors starts ago. That win at the 119th edition, which is also his most recent of four PGA TOUR titles, remains his lone top-5 finish in major championships. The Kansas alum, who improves to 9-for-19 on the season, claims his fifth top 10 of the campaign, first since T8 at the Valero seven starts ago in April, totaled one eagle and 12 birdies against nine bogeys, one double and one triple, the latter two big numbers both coming at the par-3 second, and eked out a 0.03 with the flat stick but ranked No. 1 in SG: Off-the-Tee (4.82). See link below to post-round comments.

The 37-year-old Woodland comes in off a T-24 finish at the Mexico Open at Vidanta, marking his fifth top-25 finish in his last seven starts. He kicked off his recent stretch of success with consecutive T-5 finishes, at the Honda Classic and Arnold Palmer Invitational, and added a T-8 at the Valero Texas Open before missing the cut at the Masters. In nine previous event appearances at the Wells Fargo, Woodland has made eight cuts with two top 10s, finishing T-4 in 2015 and fifth in 2021. In one previous appearance at TPC Potomac, at the 2018 Quicken Loans National, Woodland finished 53rd.

The 37-year-old is not in the top 10, T21 at the moment, but he’s currently tied for the fourth-best score (of 72) from the more difficult, afternoon wave, which is encouraging (for those who rostered him). On nine (of 13) fairways and 16 greens in regulation, he lost -1.534 strokes with the flat stick, but gained 4.839 tee-to-green, 2.190 of that on approach. The Kansas alum squared two bogeys at holes 3 (3-putt from 40'5") and 9, camouflaged by six birdies at 5, 6, 7, 8 (hole-out from 19'6" away), 16 and 18, one conventionally from 15'3". His form on arrival was a mixed bag, missing the cuts at a couple of the bigger events (Masters, PLAYERS), but posting three top 10s around those, including a T8 at the Valero Texas Open two starts ago, where he was T30 after R1 (70-67-72-70).