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Will Zalatoris

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Will Zalatoris
Zalatoris in 2022
Personal information
Full nameWilliam Patrick Zalatoris
Born (1996-08-16) August 16, 1996 (age 28)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight175 lb (79 kg; 12.5 st)
Sporting nationality United States
ResidencePlano, Texas, U.S.
Spouse
Caitlin Sellers
​
(m. 2022)​
Career
CollegeWake Forest University
Turned professional2018
Current tour(s)PGA Tour
Former tour(s)European Tour
Korn Ferry Tour
Professional wins2
Highest ranking7 (September 25, 2022)[1]
(as of November 17, 2024)
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour1
Korn Ferry Tour1
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament2nd: 2021
PGA Championship2nd: 2022
U.S. OpenT2: 2022
The Open ChampionshipT28: 2022
Achievements and awards
PGA Tour
Rookie of the Year		2020–21

William Patrick Zalatoris (born August 16, 1996) is an American professional golfer. He has competed primarily on the PGA Tour, where he has won once, at the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship. He also has three runner-up finishes in major championships.

College career

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Zalatoris was born in San Francisco, California.

Representing Trinity Christian Academy in Addison, a suburb of Dallas, Texas, Zalatoris won the U.S. Junior Amateur title in 2014.[2] He attended Wake Forest University in North Carolina, and was named ACC Player of the Year in 2017.[3] In his junior year, Zalatoris was named All-ACC, First-Team GCAA All-American, First-Team Golf week All-American, Nicklaus Award finalist, Hogan Award semifinalist, played in all 12 events and had a scoring average of 70.14, third-best season average in school history.[4] He was also a member of the U.S. Walker Cup team in 2017, teammates with future PGA Tour winners Collin Morikawa and Cameron Champ.[5] He left school after his junior year to turn professional.[6]

Professional career

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Zalatoris turned professional in 2018 but failed to make it past First Stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Q School.[7] With no status in 2019, Zalatoris relied on Monday qualifying and sponsor exemptions to play in Korn Ferry Tour events. He secured membership for the remainder of the season on July 7 after a tie for third at the LECOM Health Challenge, and finished the regular season 60th in points, earning full status for the 2020 season.[8]

Zalatoris' first professional victory came in July 2020, when he narrowly won the TPC Colorado Championship by one stroke.[9] The win moved him to the leader on the Korn Ferry Tour points list and qualified him for the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. At the U.S. Open, he aced the par-3 seventh hole during the first round, very nearly replicating it six holes later,[10] and tied for sixth place, at five-over par, alongside world number one Dustin Johnson; it was his first top-10 finish in a major championship.[11] He followed it up with a T8 at the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship, and secured Special Temporary Member status after the Bermuda Championship in early November.

In April 2021, Zalatoris finished second in the Masters Tournament with a score of 9-under-par, one stroke behind champion Hideki Matsuyama. Zalatoris was voted PGA Tour Rookie of the Year for the 2020–21 season.[12]

In October 2021, Zalatoris shot his career low round (61) on the PGA Tour at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi.[13]

In January 2022, Zalatoris tied for the lead of the Farmers Insurance Open after 72 holes. He lost a sudden-death playoff to Luke List when List hit his approach shot to a foot away from the first playoff hole and made birdie.[14]

In May 2022, Zalatoris finished second in a major championship for the second time. He lost to Justin Thomas in a playoff in the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma.[15]

In June 2022, Zalatoris had another second place in a major championship. He finished tied with Scottie Scheffler at the U.S. Open behind Matt Fitzpatrick at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts.[16]

On August 14, 2022, Zalatoris won his first PGA Tour event, winning the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee on the third playoff hole against Sepp Straka. The event was the first of three events in the 2022 FedEx Cup Playoffs, With his win, Zalatoris moved to first in the FedEx Cup standings ahead of Scottie Scheffler.[17]

Zalatoris underwent back surgery in April 2023 and announced that he would miss the remainder of the 2022–23 season.[18]

Amateur wins

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Source:[19]

Professional wins (2)

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PGA Tour wins (1)

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Legend
FedEx Cup playoff events (1)
Other PGA Tour (0)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 Aug 14, 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship −15 (71-63-65-66=265) Playoff Austria Sepp Straka

PGA Tour playoff record (1–2)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2022 Farmers Insurance Open United States Luke List Lost to birdie on first extra hole
2 2022 PGA Championship United States Justin Thomas Lost three-hole aggregate playoff;
Thomas: −2 (4-3-4=11),
Zalatoris: x (4-4-x=x)
3 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship Austria Sepp Straka Won with bogey on third extra hole

Korn Ferry Tour wins (1)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 Jul 4, 2020 TPC Colorado Championship −15 (67-67-70-69=273) 1 stroke United States Chase Johnson

Playoff record

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European Tour playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2022 PGA Championship United States Justin Thomas Lost three-hole aggregate playoff;
Thomas: −2 (4-3-4=11),
Zalatoris: x (4-4-x=x)

Results in major championships

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Results not in chronological order before 2019 and in 2020.

Tournament 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Masters Tournament 2 T6 T9
PGA Championship T8 2 T43
U.S. Open CUT T6 CUT T2 CUT
The Open Championship NT WD T28 CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
WD = withdrew
NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

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Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 1 0 1 3 3 3 3
PGA Championship 0 1 0 1 2 2 3 3
U.S. Open 0 1 0 1 2 2 5 2
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1
Totals 0 3 0 3 7 7 14 9
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (2022 Masters – 2024 PGA)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (twice)

Results in The Players Championship

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Tournament 2021 2022 2023 2024
The Players Championship T17 T26 73 CUT

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

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Tournament 2021 2022 2023
Championship T22
Match Play T28 QF T59
Invitational T8
Champions NT1 NT1

1Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic

  Top 10

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament
Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022. The Champions was discontinued from 2023.

U.S. national team appearances

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Amateur

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Week 39 2022 Ending 25 Sep 2022" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Wildhack, Sean (April 3, 2020). "Zalatoris, Riley progress from U.S. Junior finalists to roommates". PGA Tour. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  3. ^ "Will Zalatoris Named ACC Player of the Year". godeacs.com. May 11, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  4. ^ "Will Zalatoris - Men's Golf". Wake Forest University Athletics. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
  5. ^ "Meet the USA Walker Cup team". USGA. August 21, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  6. ^ Dell, John (July 1, 2020). "Will Zalatoris, a former Wake Forest star, hitting his stride on the Korn Ferry Tour". Winston-Salem Journal. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  7. ^ "First Stage – The Woodlands, TX". BlueGolf. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  8. ^ "Will Zalatoris – Profile". PGA Tour. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  9. ^ Romine, Brentley (July 4, 2020). "Will Zalatoris wrote his caddie a check for the winner's share, then went and won". Golf Channel. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  10. ^ Kelly, Todd (September 17, 2020). "U.S. Open: Will Zalatoris makes hole-in-one, almost does it again later in round". USA Today. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  11. ^ Gray, Will (September 21, 2020). "Will Zalatoris surpasses KFT season earnings with U.S. Open T-6". Golf Channel. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  12. ^ "Golfer Will Zalatoris is PGA Tour rookie of the year". ESPN. Associated Press. September 14, 2021.
  13. ^ "Will Zalatoris shoots 61 to share lead at Sanderson Farms". ABC News. Associated Press. October 1, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
  14. ^ Kelly, Todd (January 29, 2022). "Luke List beats Will Zalatoris in a playoff at Farmers Insurance Open for first PGA Tour win". Golfweek. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  15. ^ Ferguson, Doug (May 22, 2022). "Thomas wins 2nd PGA title in playoff after 7-shot rally". AP News. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  16. ^ Skiver, Kevin (June 20, 2022). "Will Zalatoris comes up short at U.S. Open, his third runner-up finish at a major: 'I'm going to keep knocking on the door'". The Sporting News. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
  17. ^ Ferguson, Doug (August 15, 2022). "Will Zalatoris gets 1st PGA Tour win in playoff at Memphis". AP News. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
  18. ^ Schlabach, Mark (April 10, 2023). "Zalatoris has back procedure, to miss golf season". ESPN. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  19. ^ "Will Zalatoris". World Amateur Golf Ranking. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
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