One of golf’s brightest stars returns. In May, he wondered if he was done

Will Zalatoris be able to perform.

He says he couldn’t — “never took a drama class in my life” — but there he was over the summer, the ball-and-stick golfer doing slapstick in a cameo for the sequel to “Happy Gilmore.” He had a few rules. He strangled a man. He was tackled. Forget the green jacket. Give him the Golden Globe.

But did you see him at the 2022 US Open?

That is of course a tournament. But Zalatoris’ best work came there. Entering the final day tied for the lead, he was awarded the final day title tied for the lead introductionwhere viewers at home, to set the mood, watch contenders drive cars into parking lots, contenders unload their bags and contenders stagger to the clubhouse while the music plays and analysts analyze. And there was Zalatoris.

Masking a limp. Pretend he was fine.

“Once your car stops, you have a camera as soon as you get out,” he said. “And I remember trying to hide my limp on the last lap just because of how stiff I was and how locked up my back was.

“And I could still go out and possibly win a major.”

He almost did that four years ago, but a 15-foot player who would have tied him on the 72nd hole flew past the left side of the cup and Matt Fitzpatrick was your winner. But what if Zalatoris hadn’t been hurt? What if his back cooperated? Or at least not crippled? Of course we cannot know that. But we could soon learn what a healthy Zalatoris might look like. The ’22 Open foreshadowed more pain to come. There have been operations. Plural. There have been recordings. Plural. There have been returns. Plural. The latest comes Thursday, when Zalatoris tees off at the American Express tournament, his second start since undergoing a procedure last May and his first on the PGA Tour.

He is hopeful, just like before, but this time it feels different because it is physically that way. His surgery seven months ago was a complete disc replacement; a 2023 procedure was a microdiscectomy after herniating two discs. In other words, Zalatoris said he believes the latest work solves all of his problems, rather than just eliminating some of them. But new drives? Sounds disturbing. He’s also only 29. That seems like there’s a lot of opening and closing to be done before the age of 30. But Zalatoris said he knew the surgery had been done on others — “eventually I said, look, let’s go for it, we have the technology, we put it in long-distance guys, we put it in hockey players, it saved guys’ careers,” he said — and a week after missing the cut at the PGA Championship last May, the job was done.

Eight weeks later he was setting.

A few weeks later he was chipping away.

Fifteen weeks later, his doctor told him to play.

Now Zalatoris can’t stop. Thirty-six? Back-to-back days of 36? Gym work? All of the above. And all good.

“I can do the things I haven’t been able to do for years,” he said. “So I know it’s a little weird to say at 29 years old, but obviously you know what I’ve been through the last three, four, five years.”

However, his play certainly wasn’t bad during that stretch. Zalatoris was a player who played more than ten majors from 2020 through 2022 and secured six top 10 finishes, including second place at the US Open ’22 and two others. He was the 2021 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. He then won his first PGA Tour event in August 2022 and led both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour season-long points races. But stops and goes followed. “From there everything turned into: can you play, can you get by?” he said. A week after his win, he withdrew from the BMW Championship due to his back, then competed in the 2023 Masters and underwent his microdiscectomy before returning at the end of that year – playing for about a year and a half until undergoing his final procedure.

That’s when doubts set in, he said.

He wondered if he could continue.

“Is this something – even if the surgeon says, Hey, I won’t see you for 20 years – is this true?” Zalatoris said. “The little things that always come to mind, of course. …

“The mental side of it was very tough. Leaving the PGA not knowing if that would be my last professional golf tournament, given all the problems I had. But I would say it just gives you more appreciation when you come back here.”

During his last outing, he said he reworked his swing. (“A lot of it is actually trying to understand my body a little bit better in terms of how I rotate around my body,” he said. “A lot of people were always quite critical of my posture, how often I dove for the ball. The difference was I would say I did a really good job last year, but this time there is no management.”) He said he had only seen some golf. The Ryder Cup. The majors. When friends had a fight. But he did play. One and two dollar games. He also went to investigate. “Last fall, when I could play 18,” he said, “I made a conscious decision to go play some new courses and have some fun.”

But it’s what he didn’t do that makes him most optimistic.

“I’m not at home hitting a million golf balls, trying to figure out my golf swing,” Zalatoris said, “when in reality I had an affected back.”

So what can you expect on Thursday?

Patience will be needed. Backs are more fickle than even golf. Pain in that area is a bit like a shank: it seemingly comes out of nowhere, it hurts, and it lingers. So it may take some time. Maybe Zalatoris claims that. Maybe he’ll make the cut. Maybe he’s targeting April and Augusta. That would be symbolic. He retired there three years ago.

Or maybe we’ll see him compete again at the US Open. Where his acting career began.

That gives him some finality. This time, however, he would win.

“I’m still that same guy from 2022,” he said.

“I just have a lot more appreciation for where I am now.”

“>