Gary Woodland talks with Todd Lewis about the struggles he faced with seizures caused by a brain lesion as well as the surgery to address it and how he is looking to bounce back on the golf course. Jay Croucher also joins the show to look ahead to the Sony Open in Hawaii from a betting perspective. #GolfChannel #GolfCentral #GaryWoodland
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Gary Woodland details difficult battle with brain lesion | Golf Central | Golf Channel
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Golf Central on YouTube is brought to you by the new Chrome tour golf ball from Callaway hello I’m Anna Jackson and this is your golf Central update while the PGA Tour concludes its two week stretch in Hawaii it’s Wy Country Club who hosts the First full field event in
2024 and well for Gary Woodland it is pretty amazing that he is even in the field Woodland had a lesion removed from his brain in September and he begins his comeback on the course this week Todd Lewis caught up with the 2019 US Open Champion Gary first SE his gra seatback
Um I do want to go back to last year you said you were having symptoms of partial seizures um jolting you were fatigued memory loss I’ve known you for a long time you’ve been a very positive optimistic person what was your attitude when all that was happening and you were talking
To doctors it was awful um because it was just new for me that’s it wasn’t myself and to like I said to be 39 years old and all of a sudden you don’t feel like yourself when you it was it was horrible and luckily Gabby was there with me um my team knew
What was I was going through so they were very supportive but it was something we couldn’t stop either I mean I was this was an everyday occurrence the fear and anxiety I was dealing with um just wouldn’t go away and so fortunately with the meds the seizures
Started to go away but that didn’t help the symptoms I was dealing with and it was uh golf was a little break when I could fight through it when I could play but it was uh it was something I hopefully I never experience again it’s a powerful emotion fear how would you
Describe that fear awful I mean what fearful of death everything was death it was doomsday um into of the world and it was everything from whether I was driving a car or getting on an airplane um my kids are playing just you you know a candle’s lit in the in the kitchen I’m
Like babe the house is going to burn down you know and it was it was awful and the golf fear came you know if I jolted in the middle of the night before a round wake up with a seizure and I’m like oh oh my gosh I’m not going to play
Golf I can’t play golf today and getting nauseous getting so worked up my brain’s going so fast start getting sick um show up at a golf tournament not have the focus to play forget what club I’m hitting um fortunately I was I was practicing and playing good golf I just
Wasn’t able to sustain it but surgery helped that’s gone away let me stop you there I’m sure you had fear going into the surgery but when you woke up from that surgery how would you describe those emotions I was overwhelmed with thankfulness love um my
Wife was standing in front of me when I woke up I was two days in the hospital before I got to see my kids when I got home obviously went in the US Open I wanted to see my dad I wanted to get there I was on Father’s Day I wanted to
Hug my dad when I I was able to hug my kids after surgery I don’t I don’t think there’s anything better how would you describe the love and support you had since recovery and even before the surgery it’s been overwhelming the the golf world has really rallied it’s been absolutely
Amazing we’re obviously in an individual sport we’re out here battling with each other every week it’s felt like everyone’s a team everyone’s a family the being out here seeing the guys again I haven’t seen a lot of guys I’ve seen you know Ricky and some guys back home
Who have been amazing um but it’s been overwhelming the love and support not only for me but for my family my family’s this has been a hard process on me but it’s been harder on my family and my team who have been there with me and had to experience this firsthand um the
Love and support we’ve had from everyone is has helped us get through this I know you got a positive person in your camp in Butch Haron what’s he saying about your golf swing Butch he’s saying it’s getting better he’s just checking in on me today as well um it’s been great I’ve
Been out to see him once which was nice he came down to Florida so I saw him there as well uh bu’s he’s more than a coach to me so it’s been uh it’s been nice to have him in my corner through this process but he’s he says I’m right
Where I need to be so uh hopefully I can go out and do that this week beautiful uh final thing it’s two- part question what do you hope to prove to yourself and to others this week and the rest of your career yeah I the big deal is you can
Overcome um that a big obstacle a big deal like this isn’t an end of your career and it’s not a roadblock this is going to be a jump start for me I want to prove to my kids that you can overcome you can deal with stuff that’s
Thrown at you that you not expecting um you stay positive you surround yourself with the right people and you work hard and that’s what that’s what I’ve been doing I’ve been working extremely hard I’ve had the right people around me um the right support staff and uh I believe
This is the start of something great biggest test this week for you will be what the the focus um physically I can hit every shot I know that the game’s been good I’ve been working and training hard but uh being able to stay in it for
For 7 Days um will be a challenge but it’s one I’m looking forward to well since the sentury moved to Maui six players have won both legs of the Hawaii swing you got Jim furick who was the first cam Smith the most recent and just Ernie ell and Justin Thomas are the
Only players to win both legs of the Hawaii swing in the same year so with that I’m so pleased to be joined by the lead betting analyst for NBC Sports Jay Croucher Jay really good to have you let’s take a look at the odds for the
Favorites this week at the Sony Open who tickles your fancy so T Hatton ludig oer Matt Fitzpatrick they’re your favorites at the moment but I would look a little bit further down the list that’s sahit theala who’s 35 to1 now last week he came within a birdie on 18 from forcing
A playoff so he’s in good form and the reason I like betting on players like the gala is that he’s shown that he can get hot with his putter which is very variable week to week so he was hot with it last week he was hot with it at the
Foret in September which which he won and likewise of the Masters last year when he finished in the top 10 so in good form give me sahit deala at 35 to1 okay I like it now you did just mention ludig o there now he is a talent that a
Lot of people are so excited for he had a phenomenal 2023 but he’s a young player hasn’t got much of a track record how difficult is it to bet on a player when you perhaps don’t know how they’re going to play on certain courses when we haven’t seen much of them before yeah
And we haven’t seen him at this course ever before which I think is a big thing so he’s a fascinating player because there’s a a chance a non-zero chance that he could just be the be the 10th best golfer in the world and we don’t know but I prefer betting on guys we
Don’t know about when they’re at longer prices because there’s more variance more upside lud Ober is effectively the favorite for this tournament so it’s being priced in that he’s already really good one of his big strengths is his distance off the tea don’t think that’s
Going to help him as much this week so I’d probably look elsewhere okay yeah he’s a lot of people’s favorites well another potential favorite Chris Kirk who of course La won last week at the sentury now we just saw on that graphic a moment ago it’s only Ernie ell and
Justin Thomas who have won both the century and the Sony in the same year so How likely do you think that is of happening this year I think probably not particularly likely given that he hadn’t been in the top 10 in his previous 15 starts before last week but at the same
Time with Kirk he does have a really good record at the Sony where he finished third last year he finished second in 2021 so there is a chance that he could get hot but a 22 to1 again probably not my favorite given that his form before last week wasn’t fantastic
Okay any Dark Horses Jay we like a dark horse yes I’ll give you one Anna how about Hayden Buckley the pride of Chattanooga Tennessee he’s 150 to1 granted he wasn’t coming in with great form where Hayden Buckley so he hadn’t finished in the top 50 in his past 10
Starts that’s bad but what’s good is that he was second last year at the sentury uh at the Sony and then the year before that he was T12 so he does have good form at this course so I think there is some chance that maybe this just something he likes about about this
Course the way his game plays on it so 150 to1 I think he could do worse okay good value and just finally any other potential wages that our audience need to keep an eye on so the one for me would be Russell Henley just a picture of consistency he’s plus 115 to finish
In the top 20 he’s done that 13 of his past 17 starts just Rock Solid Russell Henley and I think that his weakness perhaps his distance off the off the T that’s not going to matter as much on a course that is a bit shorter I think his
Accuracy will help him okay lovely stuff thoroughly enjoy this segment that is Jay Croucher you’ll be joining us throughout the year to look at the Odds
