Gary Woodland surges to a 3-shot lead at the Houston Open, shortly after revealing PTSD diagnosis

Woodland wasn’t dialed in off the tee, hitting only five fairways, but Memorial Park has enough room to let it fly and he was rarely out of position. He finished off his round with a wedge to 3 feet on the par-5 16th, a 15-foot birdie on the 17th and a 12-foot birdie on the 18th.

But what stuck with him was a tee shot he yanked into the water left of the 13th fairway, leading to a penalty drop and ultimately having to make a 4-foot putt to escape with bogey.

“I was proud of myself because what Randy Smith, my coach, calls an ‘oops.’ I had a bad swing there on 13, and I’ve hit it so well the last couple days, I didn’t let that bother me,” Woodland said. “I told myself to forget about it and move on, and I was able to do that. That was a big change for me to let that go and keep doing what I’ve been doing the last couple days.”

The 2019 U.S. Open champion has been playing a well-rounded game, in control of his swing and confident on the greens after he realized his alignment was off and changed his putter to help.

Mostly, he feels big support and greater comfort following his decision to publicly talk about his battle with post-traumatic stress disorder. Woodland is recovering from September 2023 brain surgery to remove a lesion on a part of the brain that causes moments of unfounded fear.

He felt “1,000 pounds lighter” after that Golf Channel interview. And he’s feeling it from the gallery in Houston as he goes after a win would get him in the Masters.

“There’s no doubt, and I feed off that,” Woodland said. “This as much as any week, I feel like I’ve had a lot of support. Kind of feel like I’m playing at home. The fans have been amazing. I kind of need that energy to help me through the day, that definitely helps. That’s something hopefully I can ride on this weekend as well.”

Hojgaard also has the Masters on his mind. He is No. 47 in the world ranking, and the top 50 after this week secure invitations to Augusta National in two weeks. Hojgaard removed a lot of doubt with his round of 62. He did Woodland one better, making birdies on his last four holes.

“It’s so easy to say it’s not on my mind, good golf will take care of it,” Hojgaard said of the Masters. “It’s on my mind 100 percent. We all want to be there. But when I’m playing golf out there, I didn’t think about it today. I feel like my game is good enough to qualify for it, but there’s two more days here in Houston and I like where my game is at.”

Defending champion Min Woo Lee and Jason Day each shot 63 and were four shots behind, with Michael Thorbjornsen (64) another shot back. Thorbjornsen is at No. 56 in the world — he lost a big opportunity to move up with a rough Sunday at The Players Championship — but he is in good shape going into the weekend in Houston.

Sudarshan Yellamaraju of Mississauga, Ont., was the leading Canadian at 5 under after a 66 on Friday. Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., and A.J. Ewart of Coquitlam, B.C., all missed the cut.

Pierceson Coody’s chances of the Masters took a big hit. The grandson of 1971 Masters champion Charles Coody is at No. 51 in the world. But he was forced to withdraw with a back injury Friday morning. He is projected to go to No. 50, but would need no one to pass him.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

Gary Woodland surges to a 3-shot lead at the Houston Open, shortly after revealing PTSD diagnosis

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