2024 Cognizant Classic

Thursday-Sunday at PGA National, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Notes: The Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches is the first stop of four in the state of Florida, located in Palm Beach Gardens at PGA National ... Chris Kirk, who won the season-opening The Sentry in Hawaii, is the defending tournament champion ... 2012 winner Rory McIlroy, fresh off his victory in Monday’s The Match, and 2017 victor Rickie Fowler are also in the field, along with Matt Fitzpatrick, Tom Kim, Min Woo Lee, Shane Lowry and others.

After waking and learning the lesion was benign and the operation was successful, the fear subsided, even knowing part of the growth remained.

“It was very emotional because I had gone 4½ months of every day really thinking I was going to die,” he said. “The doctors kept telling me I was OK, but this thing pushing on my brain, fear and anxiety … didn’t matter if I was driving a car, on an airplane, I thought everything was going to kill me.”

Fear and anxiety were replaced with thankfulness and love. Woodland had his eyesight and use of the left side of his body – the risk of paralysis was one of the biggest concerns entering surgery. Then came rehab and getting back to what he does best.

Golf.

The MRIs of Woodland’s head still are not clean because of the portion of the lesion that was not removed. But with encouraging pathology reports and the doctors’ confidence it will not grow after the blood supply to the lesion was cut off, Woodland is, for the most part, worry-free.

Woodland’s next step is to get off all the meds. He’s hoping an April 1 checkup brings that good news.

As for golf, Woodland could not put a percentage on where his game was compared with his peak, but believes it is trending in the right direction. “The game is coming. I just need reps each day,” he says. Those reps will continue this week. Woodland is making his 10th start at the event formerly known as the Honda Classic.

“I got a whole new perspective on life, a whole new appreciation for this,” he said.