HOUSTON — Just two weeks after his powerful interview detailing his ongoing PTSD following brain surgery to remove a tumor, Gary Woodland delivered one of his best rounds in several years to open the Texas Children’s Houston Open.

Woodland’s opening-round 64 featured seven birdies and just one bogey, leaving him one stroke behind leader Paul Waring at Memorial Park Golf Course, where he finished runner-up a year ago. He ranked inside the top 10 in driving, approach and putting in what he described as a complete day on the windy Texas track.

“I did it all pretty good today,” Woodland said. “I think the best thing I did was I carried the momentum over from last week. I got a lot of confidence last week.”

Woodland opened 2026 by missing four of his first six cuts, with his best finish a T64 before a resurgent T14 last week at the Valspar Championship. That performance came just a week after he sat down with Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard to share his deeply personal battle with PTSD symptoms from the procedure, a fight that continues despite outward perceptions from peers and fans that he had recovered past it.

It was a moment of significant courage, and in sharing it, Woodland said he felt a weight lifted.

“I literally feel like I got a thousand pounds off my back that day,” Woodland said after his round Thursday in Houston. “It was hard to do. I was crying going into the interview and I left feeling a thousand pounds lighter. I have a battle that I’m fighting, but it’s nice to not do that alone, I can tell you that. We’ll take it one day at a time and continue to get better. But the TOUR out here is a family and they’ve been amazing. The golf world’s been amazing and I’m very thankful.”

Without that weight, Woodland is beginning to look like his best self again, on and off the course.

After making adjustments with longtime coach Randy Smith, Woodland has returned to leading the TOUR in driving distance at age 41, outdriving the likes of prodigious youth like Chris Gotterup, Aldrich Potgieter and Michael Brennan.

“At the end of the day, it’s confidence,” Woodland said.

“I’ll credit Randy (Smith). I didn’t hit it well there for about three, four years. I went back to him a year and a half ago and he pretty much called me soft, told me I was guiding it, and that’s not ever how I played in my whole life. He wanted me to get back to swinging hard and aggressive, playing to my strengths. It’s been a process to get there, but we’re starting to swing at it again like I used to.”

It is a sobering thought that the former U.S. Open champion and four-time TOUR winner could be approaching some of the best golf of his career at this stage of a long journey.

This year alone, 45-year-old Justin Rose went wire-to-wire to win by seven strokes on one of the longest courses on TOUR. In an era shaped by longevity, evolving sports science and a deeper awareness of mental health, the question presents itself: Could a freed-up Woodland be nearing a career renaissance?

For Woodland, what he did in that interview at THE PLAYERS Championship required immense bravery. Now, with that burden eased, the path forward feels different.

“I was nervous to come out,” he said last week at the Valspar. “It’s something I battled now for over a year. But last week my caddie said it was the best he’s seen me since he can remember. I think just releasing it now. I can focus my energy on myself and what I need to do to be successful, instead of wasting my energy trying to hide something.”

That freedom is already showing, evident in the way Woodland has begun his week in Houston.