Gary Woodland Details Constant Thoughts About 'Everything' Killing Him Before Brain Surgery Ahead Of PGA Tour Return

In August of last year, 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland announced that he would be undergoing surgery to remove a lesion from his brain in September. While the thought of having your brain operating on is more than enough to drive very real fear, Woodland recently explained that the location of the lesion forced his brain to be even more fearful.

Ahead of making his first start since his successful surgery at this week's Sony Open in Hawaii, Woodland went into great detail about the lead-up to the operation.

Woodland explained that he initially began not feeling like his normal self before having body jolts at random parts of the day and while sleeping. After his longtime doctor wanted to rule out the possibility of Parkinson's disease, the lesion was discovered via MRI which ultimately led to the decision to go under the knife.

On top of being nervous about the surgery itself, Woodland explained that the lesion was making him fear for his life basically at all times.

"The doctors kept telling me I was OK, but this thing which was pushing on the part of my brain which controls fear and anxiety... it didn't matter if I was driving a car or on an airplane. I'd be thinking the bin is going to fall on me - I just thought everything was going to kill me," Woodland said.

"So, you can imagine, leading up to surgery, what I felt like about the thought of having my head cut open and my brain operated on. The fear going into that was awful."

He later explained that the various risks going into the operation included losing his eyesight and losing feeling and control of the entire left side of his body.

Thankfully, all went well on the operating table. After spending two days in the ICU, Woodlan walked out of the hospital himself and began hitting golf balls and practicing two months post-surgery.

It's safe to say Woodland is eager to tee it up this week in paradise. The former Kansas Jayhawk played in 24 events last season picking up six Top 25 finishes before undergoing surgery.

Follow Mark Harris on X @itismarkharris