Gary Woodland

Woodland underwent brain surgery in September, and his health and well being is at the forefront heading into 2024. He's coming off a season in which he showed much more consistency, making 18-of-24 cuts, although he only posted a pair of top-10s and six top-25s. His short game continued to trend downward as he lost .92 strokes per round around-the-green and putting combined. However, his ball-striking is still elite even at 39-years-old. It's unclear when or if Woodland will return, but he's shown the ability to still compete well against strong fields.

Woodland missed more cuts than he made for the first time in over 10 years but still nearly managed to make $2 million on the course. Statistically, he was much better than his results would suggest, gaining strokes in every category while ranking 34th from tee-to-green - best since his 2018-19 season. He's a great candidate for some positive regression in 2022-23.

Its been a bit of a fall from Woodland since winning the U.S. Open two summers ago and peaking at 12 in the world, as he started the season with only 4-of-11 made cuts and only one top-40 finish. However, he was able to turn things around with a fifth place finish at the Wells Fargo and three other top-12s since April. Woodland is still driving the ball quite far but his accuracy numbers have gone down significantly. If he can improve a bit in that regard, his iron play is still in solid form where he can win again this season.

Woodland has always been a solid player on the PGA Tour, but his 2018-19 season set the bar much higher than he was accustomed to. His 2019-20 season was good, it looked much like most of the other seasons he's had on the PGA Tour, but in comparison to his previous season, it looked like a disappointment. What that season did however was reset the clock on Woodland for salary cap purposes. He's now in-play again in salary cap leagues and should be given some consideration.

Prior to this past season, Woodland was well respected as a golfer, but he was never in the conversation of "best without a major," which made his win at the 2019 U.S. Open all the more unexpected. The days of random major winners are long gone and while Woodland had been a productive golfer for a decade on the PGA Tour, not many had him pegged for a major anytime soon. None the less, he did win a major and now he's in a different class. First time major winners can go in any direction however, and it's not clear which direction Woodland will head. One thing is clear though, his number is too high for salary cap consideration this season.

Woodland appears at times to have a ton of potential, but after eight years on the PGA Tour, it's pretty clear that Woodland is what he is. He's a solid golfer, who is going to win from time to time, contend often and earn around $3 million per year. Holding Woodland back is his putter as he's just not that good on the greens. He's been decent to awful on the greens throughout his career and after eight years on the PGA Tour, he's not likely to completely figure out putting. As such, it's unlikely that he'll ever see a big bump in earnings during any given season.

Woodland joined the PGA Tour in 2011 and he's been chasing that season ever since. He came very close last season, but the absence of a win, made it difficult to match his rookie numbers. Though he couldn't top his rookie accomplishments, he had what was probably his second best season on the PGA Tour. Woodland earned two runner-ups last season, which was no surprise as he had six runner-ups entering the season. Woodland has potential for bigger and better things, but he's been locked into a zone right around of just under $3 million for several years now and to expect that he breaks out of it this season, might be a bit too optimistic.

Woodland had a breakout year in 2011 when he captured his first win on the PGA Tour and topped $3 million in earnings, but the injury bug hit him soon after and it took a little time to get back on track. Fast forward five years and Woodland is cruising along just fine. The past three seasons on tour have been very productive as he's topped the $2 million mark each season. The only troubling fact is that he's yet to reach the heights on his breakout season. With that in mind, Woodland makes for an interesting salary cap selection this year. His number is low enough that the risk isn't that high, yet if he were to match is career-high, he'd only be about $1 million above his number from last year. In draft leagues, he should go near the fourth or fifth round.

Woodland has gone through a lot since joining the PGA Tour. He started his career well with plenty of success, only to lose his game while dealing with injuries. He's been healthy now for a good stretch and when he's healthy, he's pretty darn good. He's like a slightly less-talented version of Jason Day. The problem when looking at the 2015 season is his fairly large number from 2014. As such, he's worth a look in salary cap leagues, but he might be a tad too spendy. In draft leagues he could go as early as the 3rd round.

Woodland struggled with injuries over the past couple seasons, but when fully healthy, he's pretty darn good. It took a while for Woodland to get into the groove last season, but he finally found his old form at the Reno-Tahoe Open and once he got a taste of victory, his game only improved. Woodland has a very high ceiling and should definitely be considered in salary cap formats. In drafts leagues he could go in the 20-30 range.

Maybe 2011 was a fluke and 2012 is actually the real Gary Woodland, but considering he's fully exempt from a win during the 2011 season, he's probably worth a look. Woodland's upside is huge, as we witnessed it just two years ago when he earned nearly $3.4 million. Woodland is going to be hard to pass up in salary cap leagues at his price. In draft leagues, you can probably swipe him pretty late.

It didn't take Gary Woodland long to get into the swing of things on the PGA Tour last season. He finished runner-up in his second event and broke through for his first win in mid-March. Woodland missed the cut in his next event, but he wasn't about to let complacency sit in as he earned consecutive Top-25s in his next two events, one of which was the Masters. Woodland also ended the season on a high note, finishing in the Top-25 in his final six events. It doesn't look like Woodland is about to slow down anytime soon. His number from last year, however, will be hard to top. Woodland should probably go in the third round in draft leagues.