Golf can be such a brutal game.
Just a few short years ago, Will Zalatoris was a sparkling young talent. He won a FedEx Cup playoff event, was runner-up at the 2021 Masters and climbed as high as No. 7 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
From the 2020 U.S. Open to the 2024 Masters, Zalatoris was kind of like Diet Brooks Koepka—he consistently raised his game in the majors. Although he never captured a major title during that stretch, he recorded seven top-10 finishes including three runner-up finishes. He lost in a playoff at the 2022 PGA Championship and was centimeters from getting into another playoff at that year’s U.S. Open.
Zalatoris appeared destined to be a fixture for years to come—competing for majors, American team golf and the PGA Tour.
But there are no guarantees in this game.
Recurring injury problems have sunk his last few years
Due to some gruesome injury troubles, Zalatoris has been struggling to regain form.
The latest in those health struggles is a left ankle issue that forced his withdrawal prior to last week’s Cognizant Classic—it’s unsure how serious that problem is but, typically for Zalatoris, the culprit has been a faulty back.
Still just 29 years old, Zalatoris has endured a tumultuous few years with his back.
- Withdrew from the 2022 BMW Championship which kept him sidelined four months until the 2023 Sentry.
- Played just a few events early in 2023 before pulling out of the Masters and undergoing a microdiscectomy that April.
- Returned to play eight months later at the Hero World Challenge.
- Played a full season in 2024 but had only three top-10 finishes and plummeted down the OWGR.
- Withdrew from the 2025 PGA Championship and then underwent disc replacement surgery, forcing him to miss another eight months. In his 12 starts last year, his best finish was T12.
- Now he has that apparent left ankle injury.
Zalatoris now is outside the top 250 in the OWGR.
Potential hope for the future
While some are ready to write off Zalatoris, he has retained optimism.
After his most recent back surgery last spring, doctors ordered him to remain virtually immobile for eight weeks. He noted that the recovery process was much easier than what he went through previously for the first back surgery.
Zalatoris said his first back surgery was like taking broken pieces out of a Jenga tower and this latest surgery is like replacing the missing pieces that had been removed.
He actually got three-quarters of an inch taller through the surgery.
“This is the first time I would say in four years that I haven’t had any sciatica down my legs,” Zalatoris said during last month’s American Express. “… This time around, I’m pushing myself in the gym harder than I ever have. I’m able to do the things that I haven’t been able to do for years.”
He went on to say that he has no worries about his back at this point.
Swing-wise, Zalatoris is doing everything to “un-torque” his back. As you can see him explain here, he has been working to eliminate the amount of side bend in his downswing.
He is using Patrick Cantlay and Tiger Woods—two players who went through back issues—as models.
“It’s great because I’m able to go week in, week out, and now it’s just about executing,” he said before the Cognizant. “I think the part that’s fun about this now is the three years of kind of going through all this is over. The sciatica, the leg weakness, like I haven’t had any of that.”
Zalatoris had some positive starts with a solo 15th on the DP World Tour and a tie for 18th at The American Express in Palm Springs.
He was not qualified for the WM Phoenix Open, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am or Genesis Invitational so last week’s Cognizant Classic was supposed to be his next start.
There is some hope that Zalatoris can rebound from this—at least it’s not his back—and get back to being the player he was.
But, man, I’m not so sure.
Golf can be so cruel
I have been a big fan of Zalatoris during his career.
He was a standout college player at Wake Forest and arrived on the Tour looking to do damage. The majors never scared him. He has a wiry frame—which is probably a contributor to how he used to swing the club, leading to back issues—but his unconventional putting stroke (yip-adjacent) drew most of the attention.
For a guy this young, Zalatoris has some significant scar tissue, physically and mentally. You hate to see that. Golf is so fickle. It’s already been a few years since he had full confidence so you wonder if he can regain that, even with a healthy back.
“You go through (a back surgery) once, that’s fine … ‘Hey, I’m still a great player, I’ve had a couple of great finishes, a top 10 in a major,'” Zalatoris said. “But then you go through it again. And that’s where the mental side of it is very hard.”
We can only imagine.
I’m rooting hard for him to get back. It would be an unbelievable story.
Is Zalatoris cooked? Can he make a comeback after all these injuries?
Let me know below in the comments.
Top Photo Caption: Will Zalatoris had to remake his swing after two back surgeries. (GETTY IMAGES/Jed Jacobsohn)
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