Will Zalatoris. Remember him? Tiger Woods isn’t the only comeback player in town this week at the Hero World Challenge.
The competitive comeback of Tiger Woods in the Bahamas has naturally scooped the headlines on the sports pages this week, but also making his first start since withdrawing from the Masters in April is Zalatoris. He returns after seven months away following back surgery which ruled him out of the remainder of the 2023 PGA Tour season.
Ranked 8th in the world in April, the FedEx St Jude Championship winner is ready to play again after suffering a “golfer’s worst nightmare.”
“It’s been an interesting seven months,” Zalatoris said on Tuesday. “Kind of a golfer’s worst nightmare is feeling your back giving out on the driving range at Augusta 30 minutes before your tee time.
“When I go from ramping up to Augusta, hurt my back on Thursday and then Saturday I’m already having surgery, it’s a big swing of emotions. I think the first five, six weeks was probably the hardest.
“It’s been a patience game. It’s been a grind. I had a lot of really good advice from guys that have had to go through the same thing and all of them said take your time, no one’s ever come back from an injury taking too long.
“I really started hitting balls probably a couple of months ago. Each week has just progressively gotten a little bit better. I was on a pretty strict ball count, strict amount of time of how much I could practice.
“I know way more about anatomy now than I think I ever really wanted to, but I feel really good right now.”
One of the favourites before the Masters, the 27-year-old doesn’t have far to climb to get back to those heights from a current ranking of 33 and his former Wake Forest college golf teammate Paul McBride is expecting him to get back to being one of the world’s best sooner rather than later.
“I’d talk to him on and off but two or three weeks ago he was excited about it and it’s probably been a long road for him to get back to where he is now and being able to play,” explains McBride who faced Zalatoris in the 2017 Walker Cup.
“Will is a guy who is going to be very structured in his rehab so I would believe he is well capable of getting back to being one of the best players in the world. Will is really good on the hard courses because his ball striking is so good. He’ll win majors when he comes back and gets back to where he was before his injury.
“His swing had to change and when I saw a video of it last week it did look a little bit different. These good players find a way, they always seem to find a way one way or the other son I can see him coming back and being the same player. He might even be better, the time off might have been good for him you just don’t know so it will be interesting to see but I would fancy him to get back to where he was soon enough.”
All eyes will naturally be on Zalatoris’ swing and how his back reacts but it was his putting that had everybody on the edge of their seats, for the right and wrong reasons. Now sporting an Adam Scott style broomstick putter, McBride hopes his friend has found the right formula to become more solid from short range.
“His putting is certainly the weakest part of his game but I don’t think it’s as bad as what it looks on TV. You don’t win on the PGA Tour if you are a bad putter, you can’t be that good a ball striker but that should help him. I’m sure he has messed around with stuff over the last five or six months so if he has found something that would be great,” continues McBride who admits short range putting is something Zalatoris has always struggled with.
“He’s struggled with putting since I’ve known him but it’s improved a lot. One thing about his stroke is that around putting there’s a thing of how your putting stroke is meant to look and obviously Will’s isn’t that aesthetically pleasing when he gets close to the hole but it’s functional. Everyone swings it different so there’s no reason why you can’t putt different. You don’t lose in a playoff in a Major and come second in the Masters if you’re a bad putter!
“Everybody misses short putts and his might look worse when he misses but that’s just Will.”
McBride roomed with US stars Zalatoris and Cameron Young (who is also competing this week) while at Wake Forest University and although they have achieved success in their professional careers quicker than he has, he is delighted to see his friends doing well and he hasn’t given up hope of joining them in Major championships.
“It’s funny, when I watch it on TV, there have been a few times where they show a picture of Will and Cam in Wake Forest and I would have been in that picture and it hits me that I’m grinding out on the Alps Tour and they’re playing Major championships,” laughs the Island GC golfer.
“I am where I am and they are where they are and there’s nothing really you can do about it other than try to keep improving. They are very good players and hopefully I can get to that level one day, it’s what you aspire to do.
“I’m always happy to see them up there and doing well and I would love them to win a Major; they are both very capable and it would be great to see them do it. They’re both very young so they have loads of time and a long career ahead of them.”
Zalatoris burst onto the scene and took professional golf by storm with a runner-up finish at the 2021 Masters and now he has a hat trick of second places in majors including losing in a playoff to Justin Thomas at the 2022 PGA Championship. His rapid rise before the back injury curtailed his 2023 season might have taken some by surprise but to McBride, he was always a sure thing.
“I remember Will was the same year as me and when I saw him playing, I knew he was different. When he came into college, he was the fourth ranked amateur in the world and he really was good.
“Our first qualifying tournament he shot 20-odd under for four rounds and blew us all away so I knew he would be very good. He’s an amazing ball striker and has been since I’ve known him. I always knew he would be good.”
Zalatoris makes his return on Thursday in Albany alongside Jordan Spieth in the 20-man field.
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