Gary surges to a 3-shot lead at Houston Open
Gary Woodland felt a weight lifted from speaking publicly about his mental health struggles, and he looked freer than ever Friday with a 7-under 63 in the Houston Open to build a three-shot lead going into the weekend at Memorial Park.
Woodland sounded more pleased with not getting down about one bad swing than his finish of three straight birdies that allowed him to build some separation. He was at 13-under 127, three ahead of Nicolai Hjogaard (62) and Jackson Suber (63) on a comfortable day of good scoring for most everyone.
Brooks Koepka was an exception. Coming off a 75 marred by three double bogeys in the first round, Koepka had a triple bogey on the par-3 second hole, his 11th of the day. He shot 69 to miss the cut for the second time since his return from LIV Golf.
Woodland wasn’t dialled 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 US Open champion has been playing a well-rounded game, in control of his swing and confident on the greens after he realised 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 a 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 that 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.
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 on Friday morning. He is projected to go to No. 50, but would need no one to pass him.
