Will Zalatoris likes to call himself ‘Kid’, and at 29 years old he must understandably feel that the best years of his life are yet to come. However, in the world of golf, the Californian seems to have been around for a long time, but perhaps that’s because, ironically, he’s not in our consciousness these days.
More information: American Express Power Rankings
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Just a few years ago, we couldn’t help but marvel at Zalatoris when he finished second in three different majors in 2021-22. He was easy to cheer for with his surfer-like good looks and calm demeanor, but he also had such talent for golf that he finished just one stroke behind Hideki Matsuyama in his debut match at the Masters in 2021. Zalatoris also dueled with Matt Fitzpatrick on the final hole at the 2022 U.S. Open in Brookline.
But by the final round on an eventful Sunday outside Boston, Zalatoris knew his body couldn’t hold out much longer. In fact, he was doing his best to hide the injury that would plague him for years to come.
“I remember being in the last two groups and getting out of the car, and the moment the car came in, I got out and there was a camera right there,” Zalatoris said Tuesday ahead of the American Express game in La Quinta, California. I remember trying to hide how limp I was going into the final round, just because of how stiff I was and how stiff my back was. And I was still able to go out and maybe win the major.”
Zalatoris’ past issues came to light in late 2022, when the seventh-ranked player had to take a hiatus while leading the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Eventually, he underwent a microdiscectomy in April 2013 (still 26 years old) and was away from competitive golf for eight months.
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The 2024 season looked like he was protecting his health rather than moving forward, but after missing out on the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow last spring, Zalatoris and his team ultimately declared that they intended to completely replace the two herniated discs with what he called “fake” discs.
“Of course we were frugal, took our time and tried every conceivable avenue under the sun,” Zalatoris said. “And finally I said, ‘Here, let’s do it.’ (The doctors said) we have the technology. We’ve been putting it into long drives. We’ve been putting it into hockey players. It’s saved players’ careers. So I feel a lot more comfortable doing it now than I did three years ago.”
Eight months later, Zalatoris said he has a renewed confidence in his career that he doesn’t just sit back and hope for the best.
“When I say this was the easiest recovery compared to what I had to go through in 2023, the difference with this time is that it didn’t just take away some of the problems I had, it actually solved all of my problems,” he said. “So this is the first time in four years that I can say that the sciatica in my leg hasn’t gone away.
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“The great thing about this time is that I feel like for the last two years I haven’t been able to practice as much as I want to, I haven’t been able to do the schedule that I want to have. I’ve had to miss some tournaments. This time I’m pushing myself more in the gym than ever before. I’m able to do things that I haven’t been able to do for years. So I know it’s kind of weird to say that at 29 years old,” he later added. Even though I’m a year old, you know what I’ve been through in the last three, four, five years. ”
Zalatoris said his doctor told him to play as much golf as he likes once he’s healed. At home in Dallas, he said he played 36 holes a day, sometimes in quick succession.
“I’m so comfortable with my game now. I feel like everything is a lot simpler,” Zalatoris said. “It’s not like I’m sitting at home hitting a million golf balls and trying to figure out my golf swing. My lower back was actually bent. Now I go out and play golf with my friends for a buck or two. That’s what I couldn’t do. Last fall, at age 18, I started playing golf. I played a lot of new golf courses and made a conscious effort to go and have fun when I was able to play. You guys love the game and you love the course architecture. Dallas is booming in golf right now, but I really enjoyed that part.
To save his career, Zalatoris had to change the mechanics of his swing. “A lot of it is actually trying to understand my body a little bit better in terms of how I rotate around it,” he said. “A lot of people were always pretty critical of my posture, how much I was diving for the ball. The difference is, last year I could say I managed my posture well, but this time it’s not being managed.”
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Now that Zalatoris is healthy, his challenge now is to get his game back to an elite level. This week, Zalatoris has played in just one post-surgery event — at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa, where he finished solo 15th in December and “won the weekend” with a score of 68-67.
Zalatoris had hoped to play in last week’s Sony Open in Hawaii, but he has been playing on an expensive medical exemption this season and has not performed well. So he plans to start in the California desert and head to Torrey Pines next week to make as many starts as possible to regain full status.
“In short, it’s been a long journey,” Zalatoris said. “But I definitely feel like this kind of chapter in my life is over. And I feel like when I’m 30 to 35, I feel a lot better than I did when I was 25 to 30.”
After all, he’s still just a kid.
