Will Zalatoris can act.
He says he couldn’t – “never been in a drama class in my life” – but there he was over the summer,the ball-and-stick golfer doing slapstick in a cameo for the “Happy Gilmore” sequel.He had a few lines. He choked a guy. He got tackled. Forget the green jacket. Give him the Golden Globe.
But did you see him in the 2022 U.S. Open?
That’s a tournament, of course. But Zalatoris’ best work came there. Entering the final day tied for the lead, he received the entering-the-final-day-tied-for-the-lead intro, where, to set the mood, at-home viewers watch contenders wheeling cars into parking spaces, contenders unloading trunks and contenders swaggering to the clubhouse as music plays and analysts analyze. And there was Zalatoris.
Masking a limp. Pretending he was OK.
“The second your car pulls in, you have a camera right there once you get out,” he said. “And I remember trying to hide kind of my limp heading into the last round. Just as of how stiff I was and how locked up my back was.
“And I was still able to go out and possibly win a major.”
Four years ago, he nearly did, but a 15-footer that would’ve tied him for the 72nd-hole lead brushed past the cup’s left side, and Matt Fitzpatrick was your winner.But what if Zalatoris hadn’t been hurt? What if his back cooperated? Or at least not crippled him? We obviously can’t know that. But we could learn soon what a healthy Zalatoris could look like. The ’22 Open foreshadowed more pain to come. There’ve been surgeries.Plural. There’ve been withdrawals.Plural. There’ve been returns. Plural. The latest comes Thursday, when Zalatoris tees off at the American Express tournament, his second start as undergoing a procedure last May, and his first on the PGA Tour.
He’s hopeful, as he had been previously, but this time feels different, as it physically is. His surgery seven months ago was a full disc replacement; a 2023 procedure was a Golf.com.
Zalatoris initially underwent a microdiscectomy in 2022 and returned to competition before the end of that year, playing for approximately 18 months before needing a second procedure. He openly questioned his ability to continue his career following the latest surgery.
“Is this something – even though the surgeon says, hey, I’m not going to see you for 20 years – is this true?” Zalatoris said.
he described the mental challenge of stepping away from the PGA tour, unsure if his final tournament had already passed. Though, he expressed renewed appreciation for the game upon his return.
During his recovery,Zalatoris focused on swing adjustments. He explained, “A lot of it is indeed actually trying to understand my body a little bit better in terms of just how I rotate around my body.” He also addressed criticism of his posture, noting that while he previously managed the issue, he is now aiming for a more essential change.
Zalatoris limited his golf viewing during his time away,focusing on major championships and following friends in contention.
