Matthew Wolff, after stepping away to focus on his mental health, is in the hunt at U.S. Open

“Seeing that all these other athletes coming out and being like mental health is such an important thing and whether it’s something that’s going on personally or you’re not playing well or you’re not enjoying it or family or anything, it’s just like, in this life, it’s just so important to be happy, and I live an amazing life,” he said. “So many millions and millions and millions of people would trade me in a heartbeat. And I needed to just kind of get back and be like: ‘Dude, you live an unbelievable life. Like, you don’t always have to play good.’ ”

He began with no confidence, he said, “maybe just because I was so anxious or nervous or scared,” a possibility nobody would have pegged last fall but a reality Wolff’s openness might have illuminated still more, maybe even helping others in the process. He concluded his remarks with, “And I mean, kudos to pretty much every professional athlete out there — it’s, I haven’t been in this world for a long time, but it’s f---ing hard.”