Will Zalatoris Withdraws From the 2023 Masters With Injury

Zalatoris pulled out of the first major championship of the season before his afternoon tee-time.

Will Zalatoris became the second player to withdraw from the Masters on Thursday, after Kevin Na pulled out due to illness. 

According to an official Masters release, Zalatoris cited injury as the reason for his withdrawal. 

Zalatoris, who has one victory on the PGA Tour, has struggled with a back injury since the 2022 BMW Championship. In the fall, Zalatoris took a four-month hiatus from competition while he healed two herniated discs in his back. It is unclear whether Zalatoris’s back was the specific injury that kept him from competing in this year’s Masters.

Earlier this week, Zalatoris spoke about his lingering injury and was confident that he has seen significant progress. According to the Wake Forest product, the issue stemmed from limited mobility in his right ankle. 

Due to injury, @WillZalatoris has officially withdrawn from the Masters Tournament prior to starting his first round. #themasters

— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 6, 2023

“I had two herniated disks, and part of it was actually—the genesis of it was actually bad right ankle mobility. 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 tilt back,” Zalatoris said. “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,” he continued. 

Zalatoris also explained his withdrawal from the Dell Match Play at the end of last month. Zalatoris explained that he lost seven pounds in a week due to illness.