April 23, 2007

KU's Woodland more than just a big hitter
Jayhawk is a long driver like Tiger -- and longs to be world's best player.

By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH
The Kansas City Star

LAWRENCE | Gary Woodland is putting on a show, but it's not the one you expected to see.

Woodland, a Kansas senior golfer, is practicing approach shots Friday afternoon at Alvamar Golf Club, and just about all of them are finding the green despite that pesky Kansas wind. He goes sand wedge, 8-iron, 3-iron, 3-wood and 8-iron lob wedge, the same routine he does every single day.

"I stole it from Tiger," Woodland says. "It's funny, because he stole it from Jack."

The word "routine" used to mean something else entirely for Woodland. It went something like this: Grab 500 balls, go out to the driving range, take Ruthian cuts for hours and listen to people gasp and laugh in wonderment while watching.

Woodland, a Topeka native, hits the ball harder and longer than just about anybody who plays the game of golf. There isn't a driving range in America that can hold him. A few years ago, word got around that Titleist had clocked Woodland's ball speed off the tee as faster than Woods'. All of a sudden, Woodland had this reputation as golf's Paul Bunyan.

But now, every day, Woodland works to change that perception. Today, as one of the favorites going into the opening round of the Big 12 tournament in Hutchinson, Kan., he and his coach have a goal: to convince everyone watching at Prairie Dunes Country Club that he has the best short game in collegiate golf.

"I have a huge advantage with my length," Woodland says, "but if you don't know how to use it, it's not going to get you anywhere."

More than an hour has passed at the Alvamar range, and Woodland still hasn't pulled out his driver. He has sheathed Excalibur, and you wonder whether you should ask for your money back. But then Woodland says something surprising.

"I made a decision," Woodland says, "that I can't be the best player in the world if I take a day off."

You do a double take. Did he just say the best player in the world?

"Greatness," Woodland continues, "doesn't take a day off."

You just have to trust him now. He'll pull that driver out when the time is right.

***

It's no shock to anyone who knows Woodland that he believes he can be the best golfer in the world. There is no bravado when he says it, only the self-assuredness that comes from being the most accomplished athlete in your high school class.

When Woodland was a senior in high school, he had a tough decision to make: Play basketball for Washburn University or golf for KU. He had finally given up baseball for golf when he was 16, and he decided that he wasn't ready to give up basketball yet. Golf could wait.

So there was Woodland his freshman year, playing at Allen Fieldhouse against the Jayhawks. He played 20 minutes and hit a three-pointer. He ended up starting and averaging six points per game.

But, as his father Dan Woodland says, golf was in Gary's heart. Despite his love for basketball, he was never a gym rat. Woodland spent all of his free time at Shawnee Golf & Country Club. In the summers, his parents would drop him off on their way to work at 8 a.m. and pick him up at 5 p.m. Sometimes, Gary wouldn't want to go home.

In all those hours at Shawnee, Gary didn't take many lessons. He got to know the club pros and spied on other people's lessons, taking notes and teaching himself how to apply them. All along, Gary just knew how to make maximum impact on a golf ball.

KU coach Ross Randall took notice and offered him a scholarship, which Woodland declined. But when Woodland called Randall after the Washburn basketball season ended in 2003 and asked him whether there was still a scholarship available, Randall welcomed Gary with open arms. After all, what coach could turn down Paul Bunyan?

***

Woodland struggled during his first two years at Kansas. During the spring of his sophomore year in 2005, he realized he would have to get serious about the intricacies of the game or he would get left behind.

Woodland had been working with performance-enhancement coach Phil Towle over the phone every few weeks, but that wasn't enough anymore. Woodland and Towle committed to talking every day.

"He really decided that he was going to go to the top," says Towle, who has worked with Metallica and Dick Vermeil, among others. "He was going to take his natural talent, not going to squander it and make it happen for himself. Gary is determined to be the best golfer on the planet, and in order to do that, you have to outwork everybody."

Not long after upping his mental regimen, Woodland sought out PGA club pro Randy Smith -- coach of 1997 British Open champion Justin Leonard -- in Dallas.

"Ten minutes in," Smith says, "I noticed something really different about this kid. Really different. He hit his driver, and I said, 'That's interesting. I haven't seen that before.' That was a gear that nobody else has got, I can promise you that."

Smith and Woodland started working together often, and it wasn't long before the results began to pour in. That summer, Woodland won several local amateur tournaments, including the 2005 Kansas Amateur. Last summer, he made a name for himself on the national amateur circuit.

This year has been his best at Kansas by far. Woodland has won three tournaments. He is a candidate to represent the U.S. in the Walker Cup in September, the highest honor for an amateur. After that, he hopes to play his way on to the PGA Tour.

If Woodland wins the Big 12 this week, he will do it by using his driver only a few times per round. He doesn't need to rely on his length anymore, and that's pretty scary.

"He's only been playing competitive golf for four years," Smith says. "What's it going to be like in four more?"

To reach J. Brady McCollough, send e-mail to jmccollough@kcstar.com

J. Brady McCollough - jbrady@coveringsports.com (email) - 816-868-2621 (cell)