Father's Day victory especially meaningful for Woodland

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Gary Woodland’s father never let his son settle for mediocre. He didn’t push him into sports, but demanded that his son dedicate himself to the ones that he did choose.

“You had to do it the right way, if you were going to do it,” Woodland said after Sunday’s win at the U.S. Open. “He never let me win.”

Dan was a formidable basketball opponent. Gary played the sport in Division II, but didn’t beat his dad until he was a teenager. Dan worked nights, which meant he was always around to play with Gary. Golf was the one sport where Dan didn’t coach his son. But it was Dan who took Gary to golf the course as soon as he could walk. Dan showed him videos of the game’s greats, as well.

Related: Woodland becomes major champion | Amy inspires Gary: "You've got this' | Champion's wall

Little did he know that his son would grow up to be a major champion. The two men shared a strong bear hug after it was official, after Gary completed a three-shot win over Brooks Koepka. Today, Gary calls his father one of his best friends.

“I wouldn't be where I am today without my dad and the way he treated me and the way he was hard on me,” Gary said. “And that's something that I look forward to doing with my son.”

The U.S. Open’s Father’s Day finish adds another storyline to the Sunday drama. So many of the participants got started in golf by their fathers. The site of this victory holds a special significance for father and son, as well.

Gary was playing the 2011 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am when Dan went in for triple-bypass surgery. Dan had encouraged his son to play the tournament. Two days after the surgery, though, Dan’s heart stopped beating.

"He actually died," Gary’s mother, Linda, told Kansas.com in 2011.

Gary is a father, as well. His son, Jaxson, will celebrate his second birthday next week. Gary’s wife, Gabby, is pregnant with identical twin girls who are due in August.

“I'm excited to get home and see them,” Gary said.

Jaxson’s birth received a lot of attention because of the tragic circumstances that surrounded it. Gabby was pregnant with twins, including Jaxson, two years ago, but she miscarried one of them. Gary was playing the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play when it happened. He immediately withdrew from the tournament to be with his wife.

Jaxson was born premature and had to spend 40 days in the neonatal intensive care unit before coming home. Gary pointed skyward after winning last year’s Waste Management Phoenix Open as a tribute to the baby girl that they lost. Jaxson was on the putting green when Gary won last year’s Waste Management Phoenix Open.

“He's a miracle, puts this in perspective really good," Woodland said after that win. "It was obviously a long year for us, but, I'm very happy, one to be holding him and to be where I'm at right now."

Now he can give his son the U.S. Open trophy as a birthday present.

“My whole life it's all been about trying to win. And now I'm trying to make a better life for my son than I've had,” Gary said. “Today is so special from that standpoint that being a father and hopefully someday he can even see this and realize that anything is possible.”