It had been five long years since he won, but that wasn’t what was on Gary Woodland’s mind when he made the final putt and pointed to the sky.
He was thinking of the family member who was gone but not forgotten.
‘Yeah, that was just kind of a tribute to last year,’ Woodland said after shooting a final-round 64 and beating Chez Reavie with a par on the first playoff hole at the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. ‘Obviously, we lost a little girl, and being there, seeing my wife give birth to her, that’s real.’
Woodland’s eyes flooded with tears. ‘Just wanted her to know I still love her,’ he said.
On 29 March of last year, Woodland released a statement that he and his wife, Gabby, had lost one of their unborn twins. He had just withdrawn from the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, and in the statement he added that ‘doctors will be monitoring the health of my wife and the other baby for the remainder of the pregnancy.’
Just over 10 months later, Gabby and their son, Jaxson, surprised him on the 18th green as the family celebrated Gary’s first victory since the 2013 Barracuda Championship. Woodland calls Jaxson his ‘miracle’ son, and he and Gabby held him close and continue to do so after the trials of 2017.
‘Really took off about four months,’ said Woodland, who moves from 38th to 5th in the FedExCup standings. ‘But I found a way to get to the Tour Championship, kind of battled through the end of the year, and I couldn’t wait for 2018 to start.’
In addition to his wife and son, Woodland was cheered on by his parents, his sister and her husband, and others from back home in Topeka, Kansas. (He now lives in South Florida.) He got a text from his coach, Butch Harmon, on Thursday, urging him to put four good rounds together and not worry about the score. He did just that, and recent putting lessons from friend Brad Faxon paid dividends as well, as Woodland made 200 feet of putts on the weekend.
‘I was in the zone,’ he said. ‘I mean, I really had it going. My caddie asked me when I got done, did I know I made nine birdies. I didn’t even know I did that.’
Now it’s on to California for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and the resumption of a career that for five years was sidetracked by frustration, injuries and loss.
‘It’s really hard to put in words right now,’ Woodland said. ‘Last year we battled through it, couldn’t get to the off-season quick enough, couldn’t start 2018 soon enough. For [Jaxson] to be here, it’s obviously a miracle, but I’m just so excited to share this with him and my family, and hopefully it’s the start of something special.’
Final leaderboard at the Waste Management Phoenix Open (x-won at 1st playoff hole, par-71):
266 – x-Gary Woodland (USA) 67-68-67-64, Chez Reavie (USA) 68-65-67-66
269 – Brendan Steele (USA) 68-67-67-67, Ollie Schniederjans (USA) 68-68-68-65
270 – Matt Kuchar (USA) 71-68-64-67, Chesson Hadley (USA) 66-68-68-68, Bryson DeChambeau (USA) 66-66-68-70, Phil Mickelson (USA) 70-65-66-69
271 – Brian Gay (USA) 67-68-68-68, Martin Laird (SCO) 68-67-68-68
272 – Vaughn Taylor (USA) 67-68-70-67, Chris Kirk (USA) 66-68-68-70, Rickie Fowler (USA) 66-66-67-73, Daniel Berger (USA) 68-65-68-71, James Hahn (USA) 70-67-66-69, Jon Rahm (ESP) 67-68-65-72
273 – Patrick Reed (USA) 71-66-69-67, Xander Schauffele (USA) 68-67-66-72, Beau Hossler (USA) 70-68-64-71, Justin Thomas (USA) 68-68-71-66
274 – Martin Flores (USA) 70-68-68-68, Alexander Norn (SWE) 71-68-65-70
275 – Brandt Snedeker (USA) 69-67-71-68, Scott Stallings (USA) 69-65-74-67, An Byeong-Hun (KOR) 68-67-72-68
276 – Aaron Baddeley (AUS) 72-68-66-70, Luke List (USA) 69-68-69-70, Bill Haas (USA) 64-72-66-74, Nick Watney (USA) 68-68-70-70, Charley Hoffman (USA) 72-68-68-68
Credit: PGA TOUR
