SAN DIEGO — On Sept. 18, 2023, surgeons cut a baseball-sized hole into the side of Gary Woodland’s head. They were trying to remove part of a lesion in his brain they believed was causing seizures.

Doctors hoped they could help the golfer and winner of the 2019 U.S. Open regain control of his life.

There was the lesion, the scans, the meds and the debilitating reactions to too much stimuli, which flared up when his three rambunctious children hit overdrive.

It was a long, grueling hunt for answers and a semblance of normalcy.

“I had a lot of scary symptoms,” said Woodland, 40, who will play his 15th Farmers Insurance Open when the tournament kicks off Wednesday at Torrey Pines. “I had some horrible tremors to the point where my doctor wanted to rule out Parkinson’s (disease) before he gave me anything.

“He ordered an MRI. It came back with a lesion on my brain.”

Immediately, Woodland’s world was upended.

“The first thing you think about when you hear tumor or lesion, am I going to die?” Woodland said.

The surgeons, however, were confident about the procedure for the four-time PGA Tour winner.

The plan was to remove as much as possible from a sensitive area, then cut off blood flow to what remained and keep tabs on whether things changed over time.

Golf felt like a potential anchor amid a medical tsunami.

“After two days in the ICU, I came home and hit a couple putts that day, just to do it,” he said.

Woodland returned to the PGA Tour at the Sony Open in Hawaii four months after the surgery. He missed the cut, but felt he had accomplished something far bigger.

The thoughts swirled.

“It was a relief, just emotionally, because I didn’t know if I could play golf again,” Woodland said. “If something went wrong with the surgery, where this thing sits, I could lose my sight. I could have lost feeling in the left side of my body. So that first tournament was emotional and something I’ll never forget.”

Quickly, he learned a return to the sport he loves would require more than physical recovery.

A tougher road awaited, on and off the golf course.

“The skull healed so quickly, I was off pain meds within a week,” Woodland said. “It wasn’t the pain, it’s where this thing sits in my brain. It’s the stimulation.

“I’ve got little kids at home. My kids get excited and my brain shuts down. Literally, I feel horrible. I’ve got to go lay down.”

That launched a frantic search for solutions, leading to yoga and meditation. It was a whole-body effort to unlock his golf game and, most importantly, create a healthier experience at home.

The rush back to the course came too quickly. Woodland missed four of his first five cuts.

“It was too early,” he said. “Looking back, I shouldn’t have played at all last year. But I’m glad I did from the standpoint it was hard, but now we have a game plan and we have data on what makes it worse and what makes it better.”

One highlight in 2024: Woodland carded his first career hole-in-one at the Masters Par 3 Contest.

Another milestone followed.

“I haven’t had a seizure since surgery,” he said. “We track it every three months and it hasn’t grown.”

Though it took a year, things began to settle.

Woodland began feeling a bit more like the old Gary, comfortable in the tee box and at home. Recovering from something like brain surgery is not like flipping a light switch.

The exact opposite, in fact.

“Surgeons told me I’d be able to hit golf balls in five to six weeks,” Woodland explained. “You’re just not going to want to play for a long time. And they were right. I thought I could play, but it was a year before I could’ve handled the stimulation.”

Then, the clouds began to part.

“Last year was extremely hard,” Woodland said. “About four months ago, we sat down with doctors and specialists and we’re like, ‘How do we deal with the stimulation?’ Because it isn’t going away. It’s still in there. I’m still on the meds.

“We’ve done a lot of things over the last couple months to slow down the stimulation. I’m able to be around my kids all the time. I’m starting to feel like myself again.”

The medical journey, much like being an elite golfer, demanded nonstop work.

“I’ve got to do stuff before I get out of bed in the morning,” Woodland said. “I’ve gotta do stuff before I go to bed. And I’ve got to do stuff throughout the day. But at the end of the day, I’ll do whatever it takes to be healthy and live my life.”

Woodland began this season by finishing in an encouraging tie for 16th on Jan. 12 at the Sony. Playing well at Torrey Pines could be another building block, after missing the cut during his turbulent 2024.

Prior to that in San Diego, Woodland finished in a tie for 62nd, tie for 39th, tie for 48th and missed another cut in 2020.

“I try to take the positives,” he said. “Once you start going down the negative road, ‘Why is this happening to me? Why me?’ it just festers and grows. I’ve got a second chance.

“It’s a lot of mundane stuff over and over again (in his 15th trip to Torrey Pines). I don’t take any of it for granted now. I enjoy the heck out of it.”

Can you blame him?

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