BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

August 23, 2026

Gary Woodland

Bellerive Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. You had a pretty emotional reaction making that putt on 18. What was going through your mind?

GARY WOODLAND: That it's over with. Yesterday was a lot for me. There was a lot of noise, obviously the energy out here is amazing. The crowds are massive. A lot of Mizzou people out there yelling. I tried to block it out yesterday and I couldn't do it. It drained me. Today I tried to embrace it. So I'm proud of myself for coming with a different mindset today than I did yesterday. I played, outside of one really bad shot, I played beautifully today. So I'm glad this week's over with, but I'm proud of where I'm going next week.

Q. With more people, obviously that's the position you want to be in, contending, a lot of people watching you, at the same time that's the stuff that can really get you going?

GARY WOODLAND: Yeah, and these crowds are just massive, the energy, it was like this on 18 too. I mean, this is awesome. The Midwest, unfortunately, we just don't get here enough, and these fans turned out. Every time we've been here these fans have been absolutely amazing. But it was just a lot going on yesterday. There were drones over my head, and with where I'm at right now when I hear that stuff I got to back away and make sure that's not a threat, and that's a tough situation. I tried to block it out, and today I knew I couldn't do that again. Today I tried to embrace it, tried to be proud of myself, tried to enjoy it. And I did a lot better job of that today.

Q. To make it to East Lake, what does that mean to you?

GARY WOODLAND: I'm going to say it's impressive from where I've been, for sure. There's definitely weeks out here where I didn't even think I would be here this week. To get to next week, I haven't done it in six years, with everything I battled this year, I'm super proud of myself, I can tell you that.

Q. Hate to ask, but what did happen on that tee shot?

GARY WOODLAND: I don't know, I really don't. My coach, Randy calls it an oops. I think I was trying to get on top of it, trying to hit it a little low. I had been hitting it nice (laughing). But I was shocked more than anything. I told my caddie, I think I just topped that into the water. But I'm proud of myself for rebounding because I could have let it get away pretty good. It shocked me more than anything. I haven't done that in a long long time (laughing).

Q. How do you do that?

GARY WOODLAND: I don't know. I really don't. Obviously got a little off. I'm proud of myself for not letting it get away. Because after that shot I could have, for how shocked I was, it could have got away from me pretty quick and I battled and ended up pretty good.