He says he couldn’t – “I’ve never been to a drama class in my life” – but he was there during the summer, a golfer with balls and a club doing slapstick in a cameo from the “Happy Gilmore” series. He had a few lines. The boy choked. He was caught. Forget the green jacket. Give him a Golden Globe.
But have you seen him at the 2022 US Open?
That’s competition, of course. But Zalatori’s best work came there. Going into the final day tied for the lead, he got a presentation going into the final day-tied for the lead, where, to set the mood, viewers at home watched the contestants drive cars through the parking lots, the contestants dropped the titles and the contestants went to the clubhouse as music played and commentary. And there were the Zalators.
Hiding. Pretending to be fine.
“When you get into your car, you have a camera right there when you get out,” he said. “And I remember trying to kind of hide my limp towards the last round, just because of how strong I was and how locked up my back was.
“And I was able to go out and maybe win a big medal.”
Four years ago, he almost did, but the 15-footer that would have tied the 72-hole went over the left side of the cup, and Matt Fitzpatrick was the winner. But what if Zalatoris had not been injured? What if his back cooperates? Or at least he didn’t cripple him? Obviously we can’t know that. But we can quickly learn what a healthy Zalatoris can be like. The ’22 Open foreshadowed more pain to come. There was an operation. Plural. There was a retreat. Plural. There were returns. Plural. The latest comes Thursday, when Zalatoris withdraws from the American Express Championship, his second start since undergoing surgery last May, and his first on the PGA Tour.
He is hopeful, as he has been before, but this time he feels different, just like physically. His surgery seven months ago was a full disc replacement; the 2023 procedure was a microdiscectomy after he had two discs removed. Put another way, Zalatoris said he believes the latest work solves all of his problems, rather than just taking on some of them. But the new discs? It feels restless. He’s only 29 years old, too. That seems like a lot of opening and closing to be done before 30. But Zalatoris said he knows the surgery has been done on others – “we finally said, look, let’s look, we have the technology, we’ve been putting it on tall players, we’ve been putting it on hockey players, it’s been saving guys’ jobs last week, after missing the PGA Championship,” he said. done.
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Eight weeks later, he was laying.
A few weeks after that, he exploded.
At fifteen weeks, his doctor told him to play.
Now, Zalatoris can’t stop. Thirty six? 36 back to back days? Exercise activity? All of the above. And everything is good.
“I can do things that I haven’t been able to do for years,” he said. “So I know that’s a weird thing to say at 29, but obviously you know what I’ve been through in the last three, four, five years.”
However, his playing was not easy at that time. In more than 10 majors from 2020 to 2022, Zalatoris was a player, scoring six majors, including the ’22 US Open runner-up and two others. He was the 2021 PGA Tour rookie of the year. Then in August of 2022, he won his first PGA Tour event, and led both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour season points race. But the stop-and-gos followed. “Everything from there turned into, can you play, can you pass?” he said. A week after his victory, he withdrew from the BMW Championship because of his back, then qualified for the 2023 Masters and had his microdiscectomy before returning at the end of that year – and played for almost a year and a half until his latest procedure.
Doubts came at that point, he said.
He wondered if he could continue.
“Is this something – even though the surgeon says, hey, I won’t see you for 20 years – is this true?” Zalatoris said. “It’s the little things that always pop into your mind. …
“The mentality of it was very difficult. Leaving the PGA not knowing if that was going to be my last professional golf tournament, considering all the problems I had. But I can say it just gives you more appreciation when you come back here.”
In his latest round, he said he has reworked his racing. (“A lot of it is actually trying to understand my body a little better about how I move around my body,” he said. “A lot of people were always critical of my posture, how much I liked to dive on the ball. The difference was that last year I did a great job of handling it, but this time it’s not just golf managers.”) The Ryder Cup. The majors. When friends were arguing. He played though. One and two dollar games. He checked again. “Last fall I made a conscious effort, when I was able to play 18,” he said, “go play a bunch of new golf courses, go have fun.”
But it’s what he didn’t do that gives him so much hope.
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“I’m not at home hitting a million golf balls, trying to find my golf swing,” Zalatoris said, “when I actually had a loose back.”
So what can you expect come Thursday?
Patience will be required. The back is more flexible than golf. The pain in that area is like a shank – it comes from the outside, it hurts and it lasts for a long time. So things may take time. Perhaps Zalatoris is arguing. Maybe you are cut. Maybe you are getting ready to go to April and Augusta. That would be symbolic. Three years ago, he withdrew from there.
Or maybe we’ll see him compete again at the US Open. There he started his acting career.
That gives him some finality. However, he can win this time.
;)
