The Garden City Telegram
Email this story | Add Your Comment
| Read (0) Comments
2008 Pro-Am champ making noise on PGA Tour
Published 7/28/2009 in Pro-Am
By JASON ELMQUIST
What a difference a year can make.
That's what Gary Woodland is thinking a year after winning the Southwest Kansas Pro-Am for his first professional victory.
Last year, Woodland was playing on the NGA Hooters Professional Tour with a couple spot appearances on the Nationwide Tour. This year, the Topeka native has been a staple on the PGA Tour.
"It's just one of those deals where I just progressively got better," Woodland said. "Even though the scores last year weren't where I wanted them to be, I could see the improvement. The same with this year, I'm 10 times the player I was last year and obviously I'm not where I want to be. But I can see bits and pieces of my game getting better on a regular basis and that's the main thing for me. Because I know, that when I put the pieces together, I'll be as good as anybody. It's just a matter of time."
With the joy of making the tour, came plenty of pain for Woodland. And that pain came in his shoulder.
The 2008 Southwest Kansas Pro-Am winner will see his first year on the Tour come to an early end because of a pinched nerve in his rotator cuff. Woodland is scheduled to have surgery in the coming weeks that will prevent him from playing the rest of the Tour season.
"It's been acting up since February and just progressively got worse and it's time to get it fixed," Woodland said. "So I'm done for the year and I'll pick up a medical for the rest of this year so I'll have a couple starts next year on the PGA Tour to finish what I kind of started this year. But right now, I've just got to get healthy.
"It was one of those deals that I was going to have to get surgery at the end of the year, but it just wasn't worth it. It's tough. It was a long, tough year trying to play through pain and obviously trying to get to know the ends and outs of the Tour it made it tough. But I learned a lot and I've proven to myself that I can play -- and I think I've proven to everyone else that I can play."
During his time on Tour, Woodland was making a name for himself. The former University of Kansas golfer and winner of the 2007 Kansas Amateur at the Topeka Country Club ends his season ranked third on the Tour in driving distance at 307.3.
"They told me I would be back," Woodland said. "They said it's a pretty common procedure, that they're going to go in there and shave some bone down to relieve some stress. But everybody I've talked to has said that they've come back 100 percent. Plus, the yardage had diminished over the last couple of months. So I look to get that to back where I want it."
Woodland's driving accuracy percentage was a little erratic as he ranks 181st on the Tour at 53.06 percent. But he was also in the top 100 in greens in regulation percentage at 65.13 percent, which ranks 84th on the Tour.
"That's one thing I'll work on is hitting it more accurate," Woodland said. "It's one thing to hit it a long way, but you've got to get the ball in play. Not necessarily hit fairways, but you've got to know where it's going and you've got to keep the ball in play and not take yourself out of any hole."
Woodland's best finish on Tour came back on March 1 when he finished tied for 28th at the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun. But his most notable performance came one of golf's biggest stages: The U.S. Open Championship.
The Kansas native made the cut in his first major tournament and finished tied for 47th by shooting 12-over par at Bethpage Park's Black Course on Long Island, N.Y., in mid-June. He was actually in 35th before the final day of competition when he shot a 7-over 77.
"It obviously was nice," Woodland said. "I not only made the cut, but I was in contention. I played well through the first two rounds. I was in the fourth to last group on the third round of a major championship. Unfortunately, I just didn't have the strength and the stamina in my shoulder to play four days in a row. That's what it came down to for me often, was that once I made a cut, I didn't have enough strength to play through the weekend."
With stamina being a contributing factor to his lackluster finishes at many tournaments, Woodland plans to use his rehab time to not only regain his powerful swing, but also to build up his stamina.
"I'll be out a couple of months rehabbing," Woodland said. "I won't hit balls for at least a couple months and I won't play again until February. So I'll have time to get strong and make myself a heck of a lot better than I was this year. So I'm looking forward to the rehab process and getting back out there."
Stamina wasn't much of an issue for Woodland last year, however, as he had to compete against Nathan Lashley and Steve Gotsche in a playoff in order to win the Southwest Kansas Pro-Am.
"It was just a great week," Woodland said. "On top of everything going perfectly through the tournament, there's nothing like playing in your home state and on a golf course I've been successful at in the past. It was a great week and one that I'll always remember."
Found 0 comment(s)!
Twitter Updates
