Masters hopeful Gary Woodland provided one of golf’s most heartwarming stories ever by sinking his first career hole-in-one.
The 39-year-old, who only returned to the PGA Tour at the start of the year, underwent surgery to remove a brain tumour in September.
And just six months after the operation, Woodland delighted fans by hitting the first hole-in-one of his career at the Augusta National Golf Club.
He was competing at the curtain-raising Masters Par 3 contest – a Masters tradition since 1960 – where players use family members as caddies in the light-heartened nine-hole course.
Woodland had son Jaxson, six, and twin daughters Maddox and Lennox, four, as his caddies when he delivered the feat on the sixth hole.
The former US Open champion had his eldest child put his hands on his head in amazement as he sunk his first-ever hole-in-one.
His son Jaxson nailed a putt himself later, with Woodland saying: “I was so happy for him … That was better than the hole-in-one for me.”
Incredibly, Woodland then nearly carded back-to-back holes-in-one only to have his tee-shot lip out at the very last moment.
That Woodland is even at Augusta National for this week’s Masters is an achievement in itself following his horrendous ordeal.
The former world No. 12 first showed symptoms of a lesion on his brain in April 2023 after experiencing tremors and chills.
“It came out of nowhere,” he explained in January. “It was a horrible experience. All you wanted to do was go to sleep to not think about it, and going to sleep was the worst part.
“That is where all the seizures were happening. It was a horrible four, five months.”
An MRI eventually showed a tumour in his brain but Woodland continued to play before undergoing the knife five months later.
Woodland returned at Hawaii’s Sony Open in January where results have been mixed since, with four more missed cuts.
“Obviously, it’s been a journey,’ he said on Tuesday about his recovery.
“It’s been a process for the last year. But there’s nowhere I’d rather be right now.”
The 88th edition of the Masters will get up and running on Thursday as LIV star Jon Rahm will be out to defend his crown.
News Summary:
- Gary Woodland hits a hole-in-one at Masters Par 3 just SIX MONTHS after having a brain tumour
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