Will Zalatoris Is Done For 2023, But Hopefully the Long-Term Approach Pays Off

Tiger Woods had similar back procedures but perhaps returned to golf too quickly.

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Will Zalatoris had spoken so positively about his progress after returning earlier this year from back issues. Then, a few days later, he withdrew from the Masters, ended up having a back procedure made famous by Tiger Woods and is now done competing for the year.

It’s been a remarkable and extremely unfortunate turn of events for Zalatoris, 26, clearly one of the game’s bright young stars.

In just 10 major championship starts, Zalatoris has six top 10s. He was second at the 2021 Masters. Last year, he lost in a playoff to Justin Thomas at the PGA Championship. He then missed a playoff by a stroke with Matt Fitzpatrick at the U.S. Open.

He finally broke through for his first victory at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first FedEx playoff event, last August, then withdrew the following week during the second round of BMW Championship with back issues.

The original intent was to try and come back for the Presidents Cup, but he missed that as well as the rest of the year, returning in January at the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

"I had two herniated disks, and the genesis of it was actually bad right ankle mobility," Zalatoris said. "Because of me not pushing off my right side soon enough and being a very kind of dynamic player with some side bend, my right hip got high and tilted back.

"We've been trying to get me actually to stand closer to the golf ball, so that makes me create space with the ball so I can turn more horizontal as opposed to lateral. It's been good.

"It's taken its sweet time to get the full swing to come back, but I think really the last couple weeks we finally have seen some progress."

That was on Monday of Masters week. Three days later, he withdrew from the tournament before the first round and had a microdiscectomy over the weekend, which he announced early last week.

"As much as I hate being unable to play the rest of the season, I am happy that I am already seeing the benefits of the procedure," Zalatoris said in a statement. "Playing and living in pain is not fun."

Although no specifics were offered, the idea of a microdiscectomy is to alleviate the rubbing of the disk against the spine. Woods first had that surgery in the spring of 2014, missing the Masters but returning just less than three months later. He ended up having it two more times six weeks apart in 2015 before a spinal fusion in 2017. Woods subsequently had a fourth microdiscectomy, which would have almost certainly been at a location higher on his spine.

For Zalatoris, he has a couple of things going for him. He’s considerably younger than Woods was at the time of his first procedure. And he’s also made the decision to sit out the rest of the year. Woods quite possibly came back too soon, as he struggled afterward.

Zalatoris played decent if not great golf since his return, with a fourth-place finish at the Genesis Invitational and one missed cut in seven starts. For now, he is ranked 10th in the world.