‘He knows everything I do’

Editor’s note: In a non-coronavirus world, Bill Self might have been coaching in Monday’s NCAA championship final while Gary Woodland definitely would’ve been prepping for his eighth Masters start. But with March Madness canceled and the Masters postponed, both are now staying at home like the rest of us. Helen Ross reports on the unique connection between the Jayhawks head coach and the former Kansas golfer.

The Waste Management Phoenix Open earlier this year admittedly wasn’t one of Gary Woodland’s best. Over the course of four rounds, he hit seven balls in the water and another landed out-of-bounds.

A day after the tournament concluded, though, Woodland was in Allen Fieldhouse to watch his beloved Kansas Jayhawks take on Texas. That tie for 40th at TPC Scottsdale was the last thing on his mind.

That is, until he ran into Kansas coach Bill Self, who couldn’t resist reminding Woodland of all the errant shots.

“He knows everything I do,” the reigning U.S. Open champion says with a chuckle. “He's on ShotTracker every day. So, if I'm messing up, there's usually a text coming my way. ... I flew home the next day for a basketball game and that's the first thing he says.

“So he keeps up on me. He's hard on me, so I need to make sure I play well, so I don't hear from him.”

Actually, Woodland enjoys hearing from Self, who left Illinois and took over the Kansas program in 2003, which the same year Woodland transferred and started playing golf for the Jayhawks. If he’d had his druthers, though, Woodland would have loved to play basketball at KU.

And he did. Once. Only, it was an exhibition game at Allen Fieldhouse and Woodland, a freshman, was playing for NCAA Division II powerhouse Washburn University.

Suffice it to say, the Ichabods were no match for the Jayhawks, who were ranked No. 1 in the country at the time. Ditto for the 6-foot-1 Woodland, who was guarding Kirk Hinrich, who went on to play 15 seasons in the NBA.

“(It was) like, OK, I need to find something else, because this ain't gonna work,” recalls Woodland, who went on to average 6 points and make 38 of 120 shots from three-point range that season.

Golf was the fallback plan. When he was an undergrad, Woodland used to see Self around campus and remembers being somewhat intimidated.

“Especially when I was in school, you see him walking down the hallway, you kind of say ‘Hi,’ and put your head down and move on,” Woodland says. “But he's such a down-to-earth guy. He's such a good guy and loves to have a good time, loves to talk.

“And so now that I know him, he's a text message or phone call away all the time.”

The friendship blossomed when the two ran into each other at a movie theater shortly after Woodland, who remains a die-hard Jayhawk fan, graduated in 2007 with a degree in sociology.

“He said, ‘Hey, I want to play golf with you before you leave town,’” Woodland recalls. “So, that was really the first conversation I really ever had with them. We went out and played golf together and we became good friends since then.

“He's been a great person for me, too, if I need advice. He's somebody I can call, and he tells me how it is. He treats me, I would say, like one of his players, no sugar-coating anything. So, he's a good person to have.”

For his part, Self – whose Jayhawks were ranked No. 1 when the NCAA canceled this year’s tournament due to the coronavirus pandemic -- says he’s enjoyed watching the way Woodland’s golf game has evolved.

“I don't know enough about golf to text specifics,” Self says. “I'm following because he can be two different players to me. He can be unbelievably consistent where he's making a ton of pars. And then when he gets hot, he can make as many birdies as anybody.

“But with that, he can also have as many doubles as anybody, too. So, he used to just hit it a mile, and now that he doesn't hit it quite as far, he's certainly scoring better because he's hitting more greens because he's playing out of the fairway more.”

Self, who says he is about a 10 handicap, has been playing golf since he was in junior high school. Ball-striking used to be the best part of his game, but the coach says he isn’t sure what his strength is any more.

“He's actually pretty good.,” Woodland says. “He's getting better. He hits it a long way. He's not as good as he thinks he is, but he loves it. He has a great time. It's a little hard, he's got so many camps during the summer, but we definitely sneak out every year, which is fun.”

And when the two play, Woodland gives Self a stroke a hole.

“But he thinks he's a lot better than that,” Woodland says with a grin. “I just do it just to be nice.”

“I'm not competitive with him at all,” Self acknowledges. “I'm a competitor, I'm competitive, but not with him. And that's a whole different level.”

The Kansas coach is well- aware of Woodland’s basketball past, though. He was all-state in high school and a member of two state championship teams. Long-range shooting was one of Woodland’s fortes.

Not that the 35-year-old golfer and the 57-year-old coach will be playing a game of H-O-R-S-E any time soon.

“I do know he can shoot but at my age, I gave up playing pickup 15 years ago,” Self says.