Photo courtesy of Gary Woodland

By Kim Constantinesco

The AT&T Byron Nelson Golf Tournament consistently serves up boisterous crowds. With concession tents that ooze beer buckets, and a hometown hero in Jordan Spieth, it feels more like a basketball game than a PGA tournament.

And that’s perfectly okay with Gary Woodland, the PGA Tour pro who turned down a division I golf scholarship to play basketball as an undersized guard at a division II school.

The 32-year-old celebrated his birthday on Saturday by shooting 6-under par, putting him at 11-under heading into Sunday.

“Any time you come to Dallas, you know you’re going to have some excitement,” Woodland told us after his round. “The crowds have been great. They’ve been great because you can grab a little of that adrenaline and feed off that.”

Woodland is used to feeding off roaring crowds. He grew up in Kansas, a basketball-loving state. In his book, the sport ranked well ahead of golf, even though he could be found carrying a club around behind his dad as a one-year-old, and sitting atop the leaderboard as a 6-year-old in under-10 tournaments.

Golf was in Woodland’s arsenal. He considered himself a more talented basketball and baseball player. Even though Kansas offered him a full golf scholarship, he opted to hoop at Washburn University in Topeka instead.

After Woodland played an exhibition game against Kansas, losing 101-66, and scoring three points on 1-for-7 from the floor, he reevaluated his choice. Down the road, he called KU’s golf coach to make sure the offer was still up for grabs and then transferred schools.

Woodland didn’t play as much golf growing up as some of his PGA competition, but his basketball intelligence has helped him make up some ground.

“The greatest thing that I learned from basketball is you’ve got to find ways to win when you’re not at your best,” Woodland said. “If you’re not shooting well, you pick it up on defense; you pass the ball and do other things. Out here, you don’t always have a full game so you’ve got to find other ways to keep the ball in play, find ways to get it on the green and get the lowest score you can.”

Woodland doesn’t spend much time on the hardwood these days other than shooting around on occasion.

“I’m pretty beat up over the last seven years out here on the golf course,” he admitted.

But, he does miss his first love.

“I love the team aspect. That’s what I miss the most — traveling with the guys, hanging out with the guys in the locker room. Out here, you’re very individualized and travel by yourself a lot.”

So, if you see Woodland out on the course as he shoots for his third PGA Tour win this weekend, give him an emphatic cheer; after he swings, of course.