WILLY Z bay-bee! What a moment for Will Zalatoris at the Genesis Open. The lean ball-striking extraordinaire is 27 years young and has already recorded a second-place finish in three of the four major championships, but only has one PGA Tour victory to his name. Some of that stems with demons with the putter.
Zalatoris missed the vast majority of last season while recovering from back surgery, though. Anything to do with a bad back for a golfer is a red flag, never mind when it happens this early in one’s career.
It’s been a long road back for Zalatoris, so you can only imagine what he had to be feeling when this beautifully-struck ace found the bottom of the cup at Riviera’s par-3 14th hole.
🚨 ACE ALERT 🚨
@WillZalatoris cards a 1️⃣ on Riviera's 184-yard par 3 14th hole @TheGenesisInv!(Presented by @CocaCola) pic.twitter.com/SEZUWMEBaC
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 16, 2024
Zalatoris made his comeback at the Hero World Challenge and finished DFL in the field of 20. However, following a missed cut at the Sony Open, he’s logged finishes of T34 at The American Express, and a T13 at the Farmers Insurance Open. It’s still early at Riviera, but Zalatoris is inside the top 10 as Friday’s second round continues to unfold.
You can’t help but pull for a guy when he shows this type of exuberance with his caddie:
BIG MOOD https://t.co/4DnLiim56p pic.twitter.com/9OHgggBoBh
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 16, 2024
When @WillZalatoris realizes he just won cars for him and his caddie https://t.co/4DnLiim56p pic.twitter.com/O1KQozgSH4
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 16, 2024
Will Zalatoris' hole in one comes with a car for both he AND his caddie
Will gets a Genesis GV80 . His caddie, Joel Stock, gets a Genesis Electrified GV70.
Insane haul.
— Christopher Powers (@CPowers14) February 16, 2024
Enjoy the fresh set of wheels, fellas! Must be nice to win a couple cars with one swing of the golf club. Then again, with the prize money Zalatoris has raked in at big events, he could buy any car twice and not have to sweat it much.
We’ll see if the competitive rust continues to show a bit for Zalatoris over the weekend, but considering he’s held his nerve pretty damn well on multiple major Sundays, I wouldn’t count him out. Now that he’s got that pesky putter to cooperate a little better with the Lucas Glover-style broomstick-looking flat blade, perhaps Willy Z is about to break open the floodgates and start winning in bunches.
There aren’t many purer iron players, or guys who get more distance out of their frame, than Zalatoris when he’s firing on all cylinders. Regardless of how fast his metabolism is, I’d love to see him pack on some muscle to help stabilize that whole back situation, if possible. I’m sure he’s already thought of that. Still. Stay healthy, Will. And you too, Tiger Woods.
Real quick, if you’re a golf person and don’t follow Justin Ray, you’re missing out on some of the most interesting real-time stats in all of sports. I’m years removed from wondering how the f*ck he does it.
Will Zalatoris: 2nd career hole-in-one on PGA Tour
Climbing the all-time ace leaderboard among players with a last name starting with Z
Richard Zokol, 4
Kermit Zarley, 3
Will Zalatoris, 2
Fuzzy Zoeller, 2— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) February 16, 2024
