Former Ryder Cup player Chris Wood has opened up about his struggle with chronic anxiety as he tries to get his career back on track.
Wood finished fifth in the 2008 Open as a rookie and was third the following year at Turnberry, where a bogey on the 72nd hole left him a shot out of a play-off between Stewart Cink and Tom Watson.
A third DP World Tour title at the 2016 BMW PGA Championship secured Wood a spot on the European Ryder Cup team and he won one point in two games at Hazeltine, losing his tee shot to Dustin Johnson on the 18th.
The 36-year-old from Bristol has struggled with injuries and a loss of form in recent years and played just two Challenge Tour events in 2023 before taking the year off.
WE WILL STRUGGLE FOR A FEW YEARS
“I was diagnosed with chronic anxiety and burnout,” said the world number 1,535 ahead of the back-to-back events in Thailand, part of the Asian Tour’s International Series.
“I’ve had a really bad time in the last few years when mine golf you really touched my mind.
“Actually I have been like that since 2019 but it took maybe four years before I did anything about it. I had to literally pull myself out to stop. I took a year off and this year was all about trying to get the card in my hand again.
“It’s still very difficult, but I’m still doing it because I love it and because I feel that I have a lot to offer. I know the quality of the shots I got and I can hit them, that’s why I still have them.
“Ten years ago, if you had said to me that you would be in this position mentally, I would not have known what those words meant, and it takes going through something like this, or someone very close to you going through it, before you. he can understand what those struggles are really like.
“It’s hard because I still believe I have the Ryder Cup in me, I really believe that, and I wouldn’t continue to put myself in a position where I feel anxious and exposed unless I feel like it’s going to be worth it. .”
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