Theres not much time to shake the rust; Zalatoris is quickly back to the throes of elite competition. NT = No tournament Yes, as a 14-year-old kid. Through it all, he managed to keep his nerve and the dry streak Zalatoris had been enduring since 2018 finally came to an end with one final putt. TULSA, Okla. Will Zalatoris is looking to keep the Southern Hills major streak alive. Here are 10 things to know about Zalatoris: Most golf fans introduction to Zalatoris was during the 2021 Masters. A bad back is keeping the 26-year-old from competing in the Presidents Cup after qualifying for a spot at Quail Hollow. But I think the big thing for me is we spent a lot of time understanding the pressures of my golf swing and understanding how I push off my right side. [3] In his junior year, Zalatoris was named All-ACC, First-Team GCAA All-American, First-Team Golf week All-American, Nicklaus Award finalist, Hogan Award semifinalist, played in all 12 events and had a scoring average of 70.14, third-best season average in school history. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. After so many near misses, Zalatoris picked up his first PGA Tour victory by defeating Sepp Straka in a playoff at the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Aug. 14. The former Wake Forest star was in third position in the FedEx Cup playoffs points standings and was slated to start 3 strokes behind leader Scottie Scheffler in his first appearance in the Tour Championship, which begins Thursday. Amateur nearly a decade earlier. Be the first one to comment on this story. He finished the season ranked #1 in SG: Approach and #1 SG: Tee-to-Green. Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship, The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship, "Zalatoris, Riley progress from U.S. That win moved him to the top of the Korn Ferry Tour points list and he qualified for the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, where he finished 6th place. Which is kind of a good thing and a bad thing, because when I was hitting the ball the way that I was, its hard to want to change anything, but at the same time I actually saw some benefits. He has suffered two herniated discs and has been away from the game. He lost to Justin Thomas in a playoff in the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Zalatoris just missed earning one of the six automatic spots on the U.S. team for the Presidents Cup. He also fell short of winning the 2022 U.S. Open, with Matthew Fitzpatrick making Zalatoris a major runner-up for the third time. Zalatoris made the most of a four-month rehabilitation process after suffering two herniated discs in his back, but its a new year and hes ready to return to competition at this weeks Sentry Tournament of Champions. Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images. For the first time in 138 days, Will Zalatoris will play a PGA Tour event this week at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. "I am beyond disappointed," he . When Zalatoris first broke onto the golf scene, golf fans on social media were quick to point out their favorite Zalatoris doppelgngers. He . Spieth then birdied six of the next eight holes for a 29 on his way to a course-record 63. As Dr. Rose said, duh, no wonder I had a back issue, Zalatoris quipped. The growing legend of Will Zalatoris - The Athletic Will had an outstanding collegiate and amateur career, which included representing the United States on the 2017 Walker Cup team at Los Angeles Country Club and winning 4 collegiate titles. 1, a loaded LPGA field and more to watch in golf this week, Here's everything you missed this week in professional golf, Jin Young Ko up by 2 in Singapore title defense, Quigley fires 65 for early lead in PGA Champions, Kitayama handles windy Bay Hill as Rahm falters, Tiger not part of field for next week's Players, Young stretches lead to 4 in Puerto Rico Open, Rahm stays hot, finishes strong for Bay Hill lead, Rookie Young captures Puerto Rico lead with 63. Glover closed with a 66 and wound up in a tie for third. So thats why my speed is the same actually with the shorter driver. He was born and raised in San Francisco, playing at Cal Club, where he hung with a much older crowd and pounded . Before heading off to play collegiately, he won both the Texas State Amateur and the U.S. He teed off at 2:50 p.m. Straka, who played bogey-free over the final 13 holes in regulation, moves to No. Clark finished at No. He finished second in two majors this year, losing a playoff to Justin Thomas at the PGA Championship and narrowly missing a birdie putt on the 72nd hole of the U.S. Open that would have tied him with Fitzpatrick. The train of the wedding dress was spread over the stairs while she was holding white flowers in her hand. Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022. 121, knowing that only the top 70 advance to the next tournament. The former Trinity Christian Academy-Addison star is one of the top American golfers less than two years removed from grinding on the Korn Ferry Tour. Will Zalatoris withdraws from Tour Championship, Presidents Cup with Will Zalatoris - GOLF News, Rumors, & Updates | FOX Sports Results not in chronological order before 2019 and in 2020. The Korn Ferry trademark is also a registered trademark, and is used in the Korn Ferry Tour logo with permission. Zalatoris finds himself competing with other DFW stars like Spieth and Scheffler on a regular basis now that theyre all PGA Tour stars. 70 by three points. Will Zalatoris is a rising star on the PGA Tour who has three top-10 finishes in the . U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick and Presidents Cup star Tom Kim are among the other first-time TOUR winners who are scheduled to appear at Kapalua. Find classes that best matches your needs. I love you., A post shared by Will Zalatoris (@willzalatoris). Szokol opens with 64, up 3 shots in Singapore, More PGA Tour changes: No cuts, smaller fields, Rahm sought Tiger's advice on staying No. Will Zalatoris hilariously explained why Phil Mickelson could play Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore remake. Our crew of Davis Riley, Kevin Dougherty and Tony Romo played money games five days a week for four months. "This course is where every shot you hit you're on the edge of your seat," Straka said. [14], In May 2022, Zalatoris finished second in a major championship for the second time. I love you., On Tuesday, also via Instagram, Zalatoris posted a photo of the happy couple with the caption, Cant wait to spend the rest of my life with my best friend. [12], In October 2021, Zalatoris shot his career low round (61) on the PGA Tour at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi. He got married in December but also spent much of the time rehabbing. He could have been referring to his runner-up finish to Hideki Matsuyama in the Masters last year or the playoff losses at Torrey Pines and at Southern Hills in the PGA Championship or most recently the putt that burned the edge of the cup that kept him from a U.S. Open playoff. Straka won his first PGA TOUR title earlier in the year at The Honda Classic. Zalatoris just missed earning one of the six automatic spots on the U.S. team for the Presidents Cup. Zalatoris, 26, hasnt teed it up since withdrawing during the third round of the BMW Championship in August with what turned out to be two herniated discs in his back. Country Club, FedEx Cup leader Will Zalatoris withdraws from BMW Championship with injury, How can you argue were underpaid?: Will Zalatoris baffled by LIV cash craze, 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions: How to watch, TV schedule, streaming, tee times, What is Jim Nantzs career lowlight?' Will Zalatoris is set to make his first TOUR start since the BMW Championship last August. Kim is the first player since Tiger Woods to win twice on TOUR before turning 21. It made us all really sharp. He was named the 2017 ACC Player of the Year and 2017 First-Team All-American. It brought me back to being a kid. Will Zalatoris walks back to the crowd with his arm around his fianc after winning his first PGA tournament during the last day of the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn., Sunday, Aug. 14, 2022. Much like fellow 25-year-old DFW golf star Scottie Scheffler (who was born in New Jersey but moved to the Metroplex when he was in elementary school), Zalatoris was born outside of the Lone Star State but moved to Texas as a youngster and thrived in the local golf scene. At the FedEx St. Jude Championships, Zalatoris entered a three-hole playoff vs. Sepp Straka that could have very well swung Strakas way had some balls bounced differently. Nevertheless, his first win would not be an easy one. Will Zalatoris Will Never Be Satisfied With Second Place - The New York Shortly after his second-place finish at Augusta, Zalatoris proposed to his long-time girlfriend Caitlin Sellers. This week is a limited-field tournanment with only last years winners and Tour Championship qualifiers. But. Will Zalatoris finished second at the Masters in his first time playing Augusta National. He hasnt been in a film in nearly 20 years, according to his imdb page. Let us take your yoga routines to the next level with our 365 day challenge and programs schedule. Already a force in the majors, Zalatoris got that first win out of the way with clutch putts and smart decisions to beat Sepp Straka and capture the first FedEx Cup playoff event. Let him tell you about adult film, 'It's f----- hard': Jon Rahm comes back to Earth at brutal Bay Hill, How to watch the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational on Friday: Round 2 TV schedule, streaming, One of the worst things to happen: Pro rants after PGA Tour change, 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational tee times: Round 2 groupings for Friday, How to watch the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational on Thursday: Round 1 TV schedule, streaming, 5 ways the PGA Tour just got better (and 3 ways it got worse! Zalatoris' first professional victory came in July 2020, when he narrowly won the TPC Colorado Championship by one stroke. He ranked top-three in both Total Driving and Greens in Regulation on the 2019 and 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour, as well. He spent much of his teenage golfing years playing junior tournaments in Texas alongside his friend Jordan Spieth. The fix: adjusting his setup, with the goal of reducing the strain on his back. He teed off at 2:50 p.m. Masters 2021: Now in full bloom, Will Zalatoris nearly cooks up victory However, the Sentry Tournament of Champions recently announced that Zalatoris is expected in the field for the event in early January. He lost a sudden-death playoff to Luke List when List hit his approach shot to a foot away from the first playoff hole and made birdie. We believe she is now a marketing analyst in Texas. The first event of 2023 also could be Will Zalatoris first start since August. PGA TOUR players on Scottie Schefflers breakout season. December 1, I think, was the first day I was cleared for full activity, and really just have been doing as much as I can since then not being able to have a club in my hand for a couple months, I dont think Ive done that probably since I was 8 or 9. Zalatoris is making his first start since withdrawing from the BMW Championship in August. He finished tied with Scottie Scheffler at the U.S. Open behind Matt Fitzpatrick at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. Follow Kevin Prise on Twitter. Straka, already a winner this year in the Honda Classic, narrowly missed a 20-foot birdie putt for the victory on the 18th for a 67. 1 spot in the FedEx Cup, assuring him a reasonable shot at the $18 million prize in two weeks. Find more golf coverage from The Dallas Morning News here. Zalatoris looked to be in trouble from a fairway bunker on the 18th in regulation until he made that 10-footer for par at a 4-under 66. A Golf Channel article said Zalatoris was seeking to return at the Hero World Challenge. A month before his Masters breakthrough in 2021, Zalatoris was surprised by Romo with a congratulatory message for qualifying for The PLAYERS Championship. Wake Forest University College. Zalatoris had four runners-up including three in major championships before winning in Memphis. He was the 36-hole leader at the 2022 PGA Championship before ultimately falling short of his first major championship after losing to Justin Thomas in a three-hole playoff. That included events like the 2009 U.S. It ended up being the second PGA Tour event of his career he earned a spot in the field of the 2015 Northern Trust by winning a collegiate showcase. Topics of discussion included how Zalatoris seems to always step it up in majors as well as what its like to play in a group behind Tiger Woods. Will picked up his first professional victory in 2020 at the TPC Colorado Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour. Thats the most recent tournament he completed before injury struck, and its a feeling hes keen to recapture. Representing Trinity Christian Academy in Addison, a suburb of Dallas, Texas, Zalatoris won the U.S. How much "louder" will LIV Golf get in its second season? The newly married couple posed for the camera, standing side by side with Will Zalatoris' hands resting on his wife's waist. I did a pretty deep dive with Damon, my trainer, with Dr. [Greg] Rose, Dr. Duffy, he said of his team. Zalatorisand his playing partner, Emiliano Grillo, let the group of Sam Burns and Adam Hadwin through as they waited for the PGA Tour physio. Will Zalatoris was born August 16, 1996, to his parents, Richard Zalatoris and Catherine Zalatoris. Will Zalatoris. This one could have gone either way, a playoff that featured three penalty drops in three holes, neither player making birdie and Zalatoris winning on the par-3 11th with a bogey. He had no realistic shot. College career [ edit] Zalatoris was born in San Francisco, California. The first event of 2023 also could be Will Zalatoris' first start since August. Will Zalatoris' fiancee asked him one of the biggest deal-breaker So Im trying to get more centered over it and work more around my right side, so more of a turn as opposed to kind of a lateral shift, because like I said, when my right hip gets high and the spine tilts back, youre now all of a sudden creating all that stress on your back. 27 in the Official World Golf Rankings. Spieth was three grades ahead of them growing up, but the three found themselves clashing on the junior circuit quite often. Newlywed Will Zalatoris returns from back injury at Sentry Will and Caitlin stood on stairs decorated with green leaves and flowers, making an arc above their heads on an olive-colored wall. Zalatoris has said he gets comparisons to Owen Wilson quite a bit, but the one that gained the most steam during the 2021 Masters was a comparison to Jared van Snellenberg. Fifty-four holes, no cut, that's an easy life" -- Padraig Harrington. For the first time in 138 days, Will Zalatoris will play a PGA Tour event this week at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. The two played golf nearly every day during the pandemic at Bent Tree or Carrolltons Maridoe Golf Club, formerly Columbian Country Club. Like Spieth and Scheffler, Zalatoris received the opportunity to play in the AT&T Byron Nelson as a teenager through a sponsors exemption. Heading into the PGA Championship, Zalatoris had four top-10 finishes in his first seven career major championship appearances. I have watched this 100 times and still cant explain it. Will Zalatoris withdraws from BMW Championship: FedEx Cup points leader [13], In January 2022, Zalatoris tied for the lead of the Farmers Insurance Open after 72 holes. Will Zalatoris has withdrawn from the TOUR Championship with two herniated discs in his back. Claims victory in first FedExCup Playoffs event before advancing to BMW Championship, Will Zalatoris new driver before Genesis Scottish Open, For all other business inquiries please contact Allen Hobbs: ahobbs@playersgroupmanagement.com, Our Address: Players Group Management Fan Mail - Will Zalatoris1800 Alexander Bell DriveSuite 200 Reston, VA 20191.