Gary Woodland Makes Young Fan’s Day as He Supports Him Through Rare Brain Tumor Battle at Presidents Cup

Gary Woodland shared an emotional moment with a fan at the Presidents Cup this week, one shaped by a fight both men knew firsthand. Naturally so. Woodland underwent brain surgery in 2023 and has spoken openly about the long road since. That history was part of why this particular exchange meant so much for the fan.

The PGA Tour caught the moment on video and posted it to X. Content creator Trevor Fahnstrom, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor earlier this year, went to meet Gary Woodland. He came face to face with him at Medinah near the ropes. Before anything else, Woodland pulled him in. “Give me a hug,” he said.

Fahnstrom then told Woodland he had surgery just three months earlier, around the same time Woodland won the Houston Open. Visibly emotional, he admitted he barely knew who Woodland was before his diagnosis, but the moment was motivation for him.

“Man, you are an inspiration to me…I had surgery three months ago. The day you won the Houston Open was about the time I got my diagnosis. I saw that you won…Transparently, that was the first time I ever heard about you. I’m a fan of golf, but I wasn’t fully in. I’m fully in, and ever since, I’ve thought of you and your story. It’s been a lot to me, and I’ve been tracking it ever since.” Fahnstrom said.

Woodland heard his story, and his response leaned on one thing that he has learned to trust most since his own diagnosis: community. “I wish I could tell you it’s easy. Talking to people together has helped me so much. Getting to talk to people,” he said.

While Woodland’s advice felt simple, it comes from personal experience. He knows what the other side looks like because he nearly didn’t come back from it. For context, doctors had found a lesion in his brain in 2023, and before his surgery that September, he wrote letters to his wife and kids in case something went wrong. His surgery was one tough experience too. Surgeons had to make a baseball-sized opening in his skull to remove his brain tumor. And yet he kept his will strong. In fact, he returned to the course that January, chasing his old form one event at a time.

But what came after the surgery turned out to be harder than the surgery itself. Woodland was later diagnosed with PTSD, and he described the moments on his course where his vision would blur, and he’d have to duck into the bathroom to cry between the holes. And yet he kept it hidden for a year before finally opening up about his struggles.

He said he was tired of smiling through the encouragement while feeling like he was “living a lie.” Weeks after opening up about his struggles, he won the Houston Open, his first PGA Tour title since the 2019 U.S. Open. He has become an ambassador for the Tour’s new Birdies for Brain Health initiative, using his own recovery to speak publicly on brain-related illnesses. That recovery, from surgery to silence in public to reckoning a trophy, is what made his message to his land with its depth.

Another PGA Tour pro comeback that defied the odds.

Like Woodland, Scott McCarron has treated the game on the tour as a part of recovery. He’s an 11-time PGA Tour Champions winner and was diagnosed with stage 2 B-cell lymphoma in March after a small white spot in his throat turned out to be far more serious.

Even while shooting an 80 and being last on the 78-man field, McCarron kept teeing up between his chemotherapy rounds.

“I’d rather be out there even though I am struggling,” he had said, explaining that being between the ropes was the only time he stopped thinking about his cancer.

And rightfully so, as he wasn’t chasing good scores. He was just chasing distraction and perhaps some purpose. By August last year, he got the news that he had been praying for. He rang the bell at Duke Medical Center to mark the end of his radiation, coming out of the medication cancer-free.

“Thank you to all my friends, family, and everyone that sent prayers my way. I am forever grateful. Now going back to golf!” he said earlier this year.

Woodland and McCarron didn’t step away from the game to heal. Instead, both of these icons have used their illnesses to reach out and create impact with both their game and their willpower.

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