The nearly man in the majors so far this year, losing a three-hole play-off to Justin Thomas at May’s PGA Championship and at the recent U.S. Open just missing a putt that would have tied Matt Fitzpatrick and led to a two-hole shoot-out.
The nearly man in the majors so far this year, losing a three-hole play-off to Justin Thomas at May’s PGA Championship and at the recent U.S. Open just missing a putt that would have tied Matt Fitzpatrick and led to a two-hole shoot-out.
Zalatoris might also have become the first debutant winner of The Masters since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979, but he finished a stroke behind Hideki Matsuyama last year. He also tied for sixth on his return there this April, so has an incredible six top-eight finishes in the last eight majors.
Equally incredibly he has almost made it into the world’s top 10 without winning a PGA Tour title. And that after entering 2020 down at 672nd.
He tied for sixth in the 2020 U.S. Open – where he made a hole-in-one – but despite an opening 69 his maiden Open at Royal St George's last summer ended there because of back trouble.
He followed in the footsteps of Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth by becoming US Junior Champion in 2014 and three years later was a team-mate of Collin Morikawa and Scottie Scheffler in America’s 19-7 Walker Cup victory.
Like Arnold Palmer, Curtis Strange, Lanny Wadkins and Webb Simpson, Zalatoris attended Wake Forest College before turning professional in 2018.