Will Zalatoris

Professional career 2018–2020: Early years Zalatoris decided in December 2017 to forego his final semester of university and turn professional at the start of 2018. He made six starts on the PGA Tour in 2018, making only one cut. With no status in 2019, he relied on Monday qualifying and sponsor exemptions to play on the Web.com Tour (later renamed the Korn Ferry Tour). Zalatoris secured membership for the remainder of the season after a third-place finish at the LECOM Health Challenge in July.

Zalatoris's first professional victory came in July 2020, when he won the TPC Colorado Championship by one stroke. The win was one of his 11 consecutive top-20 finishes on the Korn Ferry Tour. This moved him atop the Korn Ferry Tour points list and qualified him for the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club, which was delayed to September due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At Winged Foot, he aced the par-3 seventh hole during the first round. He made the cut and finished in a tie for sixth-place, alongside world number one Dustin Johnson; it was his first top-10 finish in a major championship. He followed it up with a T8 at the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship the next week, and a T5 at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in October. Zalatoris secured Special Temporary Member status on the PGA Tour after finishing tied-16th at the Bermuda Championship in November.

2021–2022: Major championship contention, first PGA Tour victory Zalatoris recorded top-15 finishes at the Farmers Insurance Open, Genesis Invitational, and Arnold Palmer Invitational in the first few months of 2021. These performances helped move him into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking and qualify him for the 2021 Masters Tournament In April. Zalatoris shot rounds of 70-68-71 to position himself in tied-second place headed into Sunday.

At the 2021 PGA Championship in May, he finished tied-8th. Zalatoris was voted PGA Tour Rookie of the Year for the 2020–21 season. He became the first special temporary member to win the award since Charles Howell III in 2001. In October 2021, Zalatoris shot his career-low round (11-under 61) on the PGA Tour at the Sanderson Farms Championship.

In January 2022, Zalatoris was tied for the lead of the Farmers Insurance Open after 72 holes alongside Luke List. He lost in the sudden-death playoff after List birdied the first playoff hole. At the 2022 Masters Tournament, Zalatoris shot a final-round 67 to finish tied-sixth.

Zalatoris finished runner-up in a major championship for the second time in his career at the 2022 PGA Championship in May. He lost to Justin Thomas in a three-hole aggregate playoff at Southern Hills Country Club. At the 2022 U.S. Open the following month, Zalatoris recorded another second-place finish in a major. He tied with Scottie Scheffler at 5-under, one stroke behind winner Matt Fitzpatrick at The Country Club.

In August 2022, Zalatoris won his first PGA Tour event at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. He defeated Sepp Straka in a playoff to claim the title. The event was the first of three events in the 2022 FedEx Cup Playoffs. With his win, Zalatoris moved to first in the FedEx Cup standings. In his next start at the BMW Championship, Zalatoris withdrew due to a back injury. He also withdrew from the Tour Championship the following week, where he was seeded third, due to the injury, which was diagnosed as two herniated discs. He stated that the back problems had originated at the 2021 Open Championship, when he attempted to hack the ball out of some thick fescue. He said at times the pain from the herniated discs was unbearable. He finished fourth at the Genesis Invitational in February.

Shortly before the 2023 Masters Tournament began in April, Zalatoris withdrew due to injury. He stated that he jarred his back while warming up for his opening round, and "started feeling the symptoms go down [his] legs". He considered teeing it up and playing through the pain, but decided it would be prudent to withdraw. He was unable to swing a golf club for five months after the surgery. Prior to his injury, Zalatoris was one of the best ballstrikers in the world, so he and his coaches were reluctant to change his swing. During his recovery, an effort was made to rework his swing and address the excessive sidebend which had caused strain on his back.

In January 2024, Zalatoris made his return on the PGA Tour at the Sony Open in Hawaii, where he missed the cut. He finished runner-up at the Genesis Invitational the following month, which was the first time he was in contention to win a tournament since the surgery. He also finished tied-9th at the 2024 Masters Tournament in April, but did not record another top-10 finish for the rest of the year. He stated that he suffered from "discomfort and instability in [his] back that progressively got worse" during the year. At the time, he was ranked 84th in the Official World Golf Ranking and had missed the cut in each of his last four major championships starts. Zalatoris returned to competition in December 2025 at the Nedbank Golf Challenge, a no-cut event in South Africa. He finished 15th.

2026–present In January 2026, Zalatoris made his return on the PGA Tour at the American Express, where he finished in a tie for 18th place. He stated that his previous back surgery involved a disc replacement and said he was now playing pain free. Zalatoris withdrew from the Cognizant Classic in February due to an ankle injury. In May 2026, Zalatoris was sidelined due to a partial tear of the hip labrum.

Personal life At the 2018 Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Zalatoris played alongside former NFL quarterback Tony Romo. Both Zalatoris and Romo are members of Maridoe Golf Club, located outside of Dallas, and regularly play golf together. Zalatoris said in 2021 that Romo has "been a big brother to me".

Zalatoris met his wife Caitlin Sellers while at Wake Forest University. They became engaged in 2021, and married in 2022.

During the recovery from his back surgery in 2023, Zalatoris returned to complete his psychology degree at Wake Forest University. He had a couple of elective courses remaining when he left a semester early during his senior year in 2017.

In popular culture During and after the 2021 Masters Tournament, actor Adam Sandler and others on social media brought attention to Zalatoris's resemblance to the young mistreated unnamed caddy in Happy Gilmore portrayed by Jared Van Snellenberg. Zalatoris subsequently appeared in the film's 2025 sequel as a fictionalized version of himself, depicted as the same young caddy from the original film who now plays golf professionally while resenting Happy for his previous mistreatment.

Amateur wins 2014 Texas Amateur Championship, Trans-Mississippi Amateur, U.S. Junior Amateur, Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate 2015 Rod Myers Invitational 2016 Trans-Mississippi Amateur, Pacific Coast Amateur 2017 General Hackler Championship, Rod Myers Invitational

Source:

Professional wins (2) PGA Tour wins (1) Legend FedEx Cup playoff events (1) Other PGA Tour (0)

PGA Tour playoff record (1–2)

Korn Ferry Tour wins (1)

Playoff record European Tour playoff record (0–1)

Results in major championships Results not in chronological order before 2019 and in 2020.

CUT = missed the half-way cut "T" = tied WD = withdrew NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (2022 Masters – 2024 PGA) Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (twice)

Results in The Players Championship CUT = missed the halfway cut "T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships 1Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play "T" = Tied NT = No tournament Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022. The Champions was discontinued from 2023.

U.S. national team appearances Amateur The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship: 2015 (winners) Arnold Palmer Cup: 2016 Walker Cup: 2017 (winners)