ORLANDO, Fla. – Before he became a major champion, Gary Woodland was an undersized point guard for Division II powerhouse Washburn University.
Woodland eventually turned his attention to golf and transferred to the University of Kansas. As a lifelong Jayhawk fan, his love of basketball remains strong and he admitted following a third-round 70 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational that he would watch Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski's final home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium Saturday.
“I will. I'm going to run right now because KU's playing right now, then I'll watch Duke,” said Woodland, who was alone in fifth place at 4 under par at Bay Hill. “Coach K, what he's done is being one of the best coaches in all the world, in all the of sports. It's fascinating.”
Woodland said that fellow major champion Justin Thomas was supposed to be attending Duke’s final home game against North Carolina and that despite Kansas ending up on the wrong side of Coach K’s basketball brilliance far too often he can appreciate his career.
“It's special, watching him do what he's done for so long. I'm glad he's leaving though because as a KU fan, I'm tired of losing to them,” Woodland laughed.