One of the most horrendous experiences of Willy Wilcox’s life was when he “bought a bag of coc**ne,” with his hometown crew and it led to an unexpected occurrence. “Almost immediately I knew something was very wrong. My heart was racing, and I was feeling sick. It felt like my heart was going to burst,” said Willy to Golf Digest. He felt this way because he had an overdose.
The bag he had bought was laced with the comet. He was rushed to the emergency room, as his heart rate was 222 beats per minute. “It was terrifying,” Willy said. “The deep stabbing pain in my heart lasted for days.” Now he is on the path of sobriety, and in a raw conversation with host Tom Coyne on The Golfer’s Journal podcast, he opened up about all of it.
Willy Wilcox blames accessibility and anxiety for his addiction
Wilcox was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and grew up in a small southeastern town where prescription medications were common. He was so desensitized by substances that it became a usual thing. He started in 1999-2000 and continued until three years ago. “I’m just from a small town, a lot of blue-collar workers, a lot of veterans, a lot of people getting injured,” he explained. The accessibility apparently started his exposure at a young age. He mentioned had he been born in a different country that did not have these things and advertised openly, he might not have gotten into the habit.
“We’re taking name-brand OxyC**tin in middle school, 13, 14 years old,” he revealed. “It was just what was there. It was part of my existence, part of everybody in my town’s existence,” he revealed. These early experiences with painkillers set the stage for his later struggles when facing the intense demands of professional competition.
Professional golf looks glamorous from the outside. Inside, though, it’s a pressure cooker of anxiety, expectations, and physical demands that can break even the strongest minds. For Wilcox, who already struggled with severe anxiety, the tour life became unbearable. He just could not eat and sleep, and this encouraged him to consume more to feel better. “The intense anxiety that I was dealing with led me to take more drugs to deal with it,” he admitted. His pre-tournament routine revealed the depth of his struggle as he would often stay awake since midnight before afternoon tee times, unable to sleep or eat due to crippling nerves.
Substances initially seemed like the perfect solution, and it actually made him a great golfer, he mentioned. “Pop a Perc**et and then hit it 330 down the first hole and make a couple hundred grand on that Sunday, I can’t picture a better day. I mean just being faded out of my skull, shooting 65 on the PGA Tour, getting a couple hundred grand, and then going to have a party with my friends. If I didn’t have it, it wasn’t necessarily like I was in pain physically but I would just throw up from the nerves,” Wilcox described his distorted thinking.
Despite his dependency, he achieved remarkable feats on the PGA Tour—shooting an incredible 59 at the 2013 Utah Championship and making a dramatic hole-in-one on TPC Sawgrass’s famous island green in 2016. “I just used it as an anxiety depressor,” he said. But as his addiction progressed, what started as self-medication transformed into physical dependency. “I couldn’t freaking sleep. If I teed off at 2:00 with a lead, I’d been up since midnight,” he shared.
After years of struggle, Wilcox sought professional help in 2022, checking into rehab following his retirement from playing professionally. “I didn’t know who I was until 2022,” he reflected poignantly. “2022 is literally the first time that I met myself as an adult.” This marked the beginning of his journey toward reclaiming his identity beyond addiction and performance anxiety, eventually leading to his redemption.
Willy Wilcox finding redemption on the bag
Golf has a funny way of offering second chances. For Wilcox, redemption came in an unexpected form—as a caddie for rising PGA Tour star Sungjae Im. The transition made perfect sense for his recovery. “Being able to travel and work as a caddie helped me stay focused and avoid situations that might lead to relapse,” Wilcox explained. The structured lifestyle of tour travel without the performance pressure provides the perfect balance for maintaining sobriety.
He first connected with Im during their time on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2018. Then, in a surprising turn of events, Im reportedly asked Wilcox to caddie for him “on the spot” at the 2023 US Open. The irony wasn’t lost on anyone. “I didn’t know any better,” Wilcox reflected on his playing days when he never even carried a yardage book.
Since teaming up with Wilcox, Im has maintained his consistent performance on the Tour. His physical and mental health have improved noticeably, with visible weight gain and a more positive outlook. Having experienced both sides of the ropes, Wilcox brings unique insights to Im’s game as they navigate the PGA Tour together. This new chapter offers Wilcox a way to remain connected to the game that defined his life, just from a different perspective.
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