Will Zalatoris compared his return to tournament golf last month to cramming for a test.
Yes, he was medically cleared to tee it up against some of the best players in the world, but his game certainly wasn’t in the shape he needed to be a threat.
In his first tournament since undergoing back surgery following the Masters in April, Zalatoris finished 20th out of a 20-man field at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. After opening with an 81, he finished nine strokes behind 19th-place finisher Wyndham Clark.
Zalatoris said he had only been playing for two weeks before Tiger Woods’ unofficial event. Most important, he was able to play four consecutive days of competitive golf pain-free. He returned home to Dallas to work on his game and dial up the pressure during cash games with friends.
Zalatoris estimated he played in about 20 of those while also practicing daily with no restraints. Now he’s in Maui for this week’s Sony Open, preparing to play in his first official PGA Tour event in nine months.
“I had basically been playing for two weeks leading up to the Bahamas, so of course I wanted to go out and play great,” he said Tuesday. “Yes, it was very frustrating to shoot those scores. Now having a month of literally every day I’m playing money games against really good players, now I’m more mentally in it as opposed to showing up to the first tee and seeing what happens.”
The breakout star of 2022, it has been nearly a year since Zalatoris’ game — and his back — were in any kind of shape to compete over four rounds.
He became a household name almost overnight, finishing second to Hideki Matsuyama in the 2021 Masters. Zalatoris followed it up with a monster 2022 season that saw him lose to Justin Thomas in a playoff at the PGA Championship, tie for second at the U.S. Open and claim his maiden PGA Tour victory at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
That win put Zalatoris at $14.3 million in career earnings and he climbed as high as seventh in the Official World Golf Ranking while reportedly turning down a $130 million offer from LIV Golf.
However, Zalatoris’ back problems were also mounting. Rather than taking an extended break to truly address the issue, he attempted to play after going through rehab from October-December of 2022. He said it helped, but it “didn’t solve the problem.” What it did do was lead to middling results and changes to his golf swing while compensating for the injury.
Zalatoris withdrew from the Match Play event in March and eventually the Masters before opting to undergo surgery. He initially targeted September for his return, but ultimately didn’t play in a tournament until the Bahamas.
“Took me about a year and a half to get to that point, and there were times where I thought I was 100 percent where in reality I wasn’t 100 percent,” he said. “Now I definitely feel the best I’ve felt in quite some time.
“It was kind of just putting a Band-Aid on something that needed way more.”
The time away from the game also helped Zalatoris reset mentally. After being “shot out of a cannon” in 2022, Zalatoris took full stock of his golf swing along with an appreciation for life on the PGA Tour.
It’s no coincidence that he’s making his return at Maui, where Zalatoris spent many Thanksgiving holidays growing up.
“Expectations in general aren’t a great thing. Looking at the macro instead of the micro has given me a lot better perspective,” he said. “I’ve had my favorite thing on earth taken from me for eight months.
“It’s the little things that I missed. Hanging with guys, simple things. As much as we hate rain delays, shooting the breeze with the guys, I missed it.
“I think it’s given me a lot. Even shooting a million over in the Bahamas, like it was still 72 holes of a lot of the fun. I think to me, keep doing what I’m doing. Look at the macro instead of the micro. You’re going to have off weeks. These seasons are long.”
While he has been fully cleared to practice and play, Zalatoris, 27, has been advised to avoid playing three consecutive tournaments if possible. He also believes his previous experience at many PGA Tour venues will enable him to typically arrive mid-week rather than on Monday to get a feel for the course.
“For me, not getting stuck on those bad weeks and getting back into the rhythm week in, week out, I think is something I’m really looking forward to,” Zalatoris said.
–Field Level Media