Q&A: Will Zalatoris talks recovery, gives update on his return to the TOUR

The FedExCup Playoffs begin this week at TPC Southwind outside Memphis, Tennessee, but the defending champion of the FedEx St. Jude Championship won’t be in attendance.

Will Zalatoris got his long-awaited first PGA TOUR victory at last year’s St. Jude, winning a dramatic playoff over Sepp Straka. Zalatoris made a clutch 10-footer for par on the 72nd hole – shouting “What are they going to say now?” after his ball dropped – and then won after a wild bogey at the island-green 11th, where both players hit it into the penalty area.

Zalatoris took over the lead in the FedExCup standings and top 10 in the world ranking after the victory, but he had to withdraw the next week with a back injury that has sidelined him for the majority of the past year.

He sat out the remainder of 2022 to rest his back and played the first four months of 2023 before being sidelined again. He had a microdiscectomy in April after withdrawing from the Masters and has not played since.

Zalatoris recently returned to TPC Southwind for the FedEx St. Jude Championship’s media day. In a Q&A with PGATOUR.COM, he discussed how he spent his time away, finishing his degree, what he’s learned during his hiatus and when he expects to return. (Note: This conversation has been slightly modified for clarity and brevity).

PGATOUR.COM: What’s it like to be back at TPC Southwind a year later?

ZALATORIS: It's really cool to be back. Driving in it was kind of fun, kind of reliving some of the last round. The sixth hole -- it was the first week I was working with Joel (Stock, Zalatoris’ caddie) -- and I was going to hit like a punch 7-iron underneath the tree on the final round after birdieing the first three, and he talked me into just hitting a pitching wedge essentially over this tree.

I hit it to 15 feet, and I was like, the guts to make that call four days into being on the bag for somebody takes a lot of courage to do that. Honestly that was kind of the big moment for me that I think I'll always remember forever. I think when you birdie your first three holes and then you have your caddie talk you into something that ends up working out great, it makes you believe that it's going to be a special day.

PGATOUR.COM: You said on your Instagram post from Wimbledon that you were going to start chipping. How has recovery gone, and what's the timeline looking like?

ZALATORIS: It's been a long process. My goal is to be playing by October, earliest playing on TOUR by October.

It’s been a long journey, but at the same time, it kind of put things in perspective. I think it was a really good break for me mentally. I'm actually graduating from Wake Forest, finishing up my degree, and (wife) Caitlin and I have had a little fun, went to Wimbledon.

It's been nice, but at the same time, the fuel is definitely at capacity. I'm ready to get out there and get working.

PGATOUR.COM: What's the degree in and what classes have you been taking?

ZALATORIS: Well, I'm a psych major, but I actually am taking a bunch of career planning classes because I didn't take any of those at Wake. I just needed hours. I finished up my major before I left school. I've written my resume about 15 times it feels like. Just trying to figure out what I'm going to do when I grow up.

PGATOUR.COM: You've probably had a lot of time to reflect. What's it been like to be away from the game for so long?

ZALATORIS: It’s really put things in perspective. I was kind of shot out of a cannon since COVID if you think about it, going from thinking I'm going to have two years on the Korn Ferry Tour to then being the only person who was a rookie one year, and then finally getting my first win and having to basically sit out 12 out of the last 16 months. It's been kind of nice to kind of almost mature through this period and really appreciate how much fun this is and how quick it can go by.

PGATOUR.COM:What have you missed the most about competing and playing?

ZALATORIS: Just being under the gun. It's hard to replicate that pressure in practice. It's impossible. But when you're grinding it out on a Sunday trying to win a tournament, that's what you live for.

Not being able to kind of build my weeks out to where everything culminates to Sunday. That's probably one thing I'm going to do when I come back is not practice as much, but I'd be playing a lot more, if that makes sense. Just kind of relearning the art of playing, if you will.

PGATOUR.COM: You said at the Masters you didn't ever want to sit on your butt again for four months, but then you were sidelined shortly after with the surgery. How have you coped with this period?

ZALATORIS: I've tried to stay as busy as I could. The first couple of weeks I spent a lot of time reading some of my favorite books. Now that I'm graduating, that's kept me busy. I mean, I've done a good job of keeping my mind active.

It's pretty hard when you have to sit out as long as I've had to, but at the same time, I think the four months that I played and being in the level of pain that I was in was no fun, either. We tried to avoid surgery the first time, and this time around it was desperately needed.

Q. What were some of those favorite books?

ZALATORIS: I've read Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke; read Shoe Dog; Eleven Rings by Phil Jackson. Those are just some of the ones that I read recently. Shoe Dog was great. It was really, really good.

PGATOUR.COM: Did you want to take a peek into people's success in other fields and see what you could garner from that?

ZALATORIS: Yeah, for sure. I've always enjoyed reading autobiographies just because it's coming first-person from somebody and their account of what happened as opposed to somebody taking their view of it.

Michael Phelps' autobiography is really great because he talks about his internal struggle that he had going through high school and being as successful as he was. It was a really powerful read. Taking some pieces from some other people's stories and hopefully seeing if they can help mine.

PGATOUR.COM: You’re obviously known for your ball-striking. Have you thought about how your swing may need to change to avoid injury in the future?

ZALATORIS: Yeah, definitely looked into it. I can't turn my brain off, but yeah, I've talked with Troy (Van Biezen, Zalatoris’ trainer) and Josh (Gregory, his coach) a bunch. We've been in constant contact. I'll go back to the Titleist Performance Insitute and just kind of pick their brains a little bit more.

I think right now we're probably a little bit more in the research side of it. I have an idea of what I'm going to need to do, but at the same time, I'm not going to make any massive changes because I know what works. I don't really think I need to do too much.

PGATOUR.COM: Your last event was the Masters but you had to withdraw shortly before your tee time. What happened?

ZALATORIS: I was a little stiff warming up, and then in reality it was just one shot on the range and I knew that was it.

I wanted to play. I felt like even though I hadn't played well since I had come back, I felt like I was trending in the right direction.

It was surreal, to be honest. I thought I was feeling pretty solid. I thought maybe I was just a little tired and maybe pushed a little too hard in practice. It was just one shot on the range, and then it just progressively got worse.