By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Former Shawnee Heights multi-sport star Gary Woodland will be inducted into the Kansas Golf Hall of Fame on Monday night at the Marriott in Overland Park.
Shawnee Heights product Gary Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, will be inducted into the Kansas Golf Hall of Fame Monday night in Overland Park. [PGA Tour]
The Kansas Golf Foundation will be inducting Woodland and fellow professionals Woody Austin and Matt Gogel as part of its 2024 Hall of Fame class.
In addition to starring in high school golf, the 2002 Shawnee Heights graduate helped lead the T-Birds to a pair of Class 5A state basketball championships.
Woodland went on to play basketball at a freshman at Washburn University before transferring to the University of Kansas and concentrating on golf.
After finishing his career with the Jayhawks Woodland turned professional and was won four PGA Tour events, including the U.S. Open in 2019.
Woodland, a member of the Topeka Shawnee County Sports Hall of Fame, will be joined in the Kansas Golf Hall of Fame by fellow PGA Tour winners Austin and Gogel.
The Kansas Golf Hall of Fame was founded in 1991 to honor men and women who have made outstanding contributions to golf in Kansas.
Past inductees include Kansas golf greats like Tom Watson, Wally Beets, Frank Kirk, Ross Randall, Marge Page and Jim Colbert.
Categories of Hall of Fame members are amateur player, professional player, club professional, golf course superintendent, coach and contributor to the game.
Austin, Gogel and Woodland will be honored under the Professional Player category.
Monday's induction ceremony will follow a 6 p.m. dinner.
Hall of Fame capsules:
Woody Austin
Austin played for the University of Miami (Fla) before turning pro in 1995 and was the Rookie of the Year. In 2015 Austin joined the PGA Champions Tour. His professional career has included four PGA Tour and four PGA Champions Tour wins.
Matt Gogel
Gogel played for the University of Kansas and turned pro in 1994. Early in his career, he played on the Nike Tour (now the Korn Ferry Tour) and was the first player in the tour’s history to win in four consecutive years. In 2000 he joined the PGA Tour, where he had one win, and retired in 2006. In 2007, Gogel joined the Golf Channel as an on-course reporter. Gogel joined the PGA Champions Tour in 2021.
Gary Woodland
During his amateur career, Woodland was a two-time Kansas Amateur champion, won five other amateur events, and played for the University of Kansas. His professional career began in 2009, and he currently has four PGA Tour wins, including the 2019 U.S. Open Championship, as well as being part of the 2019 Presidents Cup team.
