But did you see him in the 2022 U.S. Open?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a tournament, of course. But Zalatoris\u2019 best work came there. Entering the final day tied for the lead, he received the entering-the-final-day-tied-for-the-lead intro<\/a>, where, to set the mood, at-home viewers watch contenders wheeling cars into parking spaces, contenders unloading trunks and contenders swaggering to the clubhouse as music plays and analysts analyze. And there was Zalatoris.\u00a0<\/p>\n Masking a limp. Pretending he was OK.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe second your car pulls in, you have a camera right there once you get out,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I remember trying to hide kind of my limp heading into the last round. Just because of how stiff I was and how locked up my back was.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I was still able to go out and possibly win a major.\u201d<\/p>\n Four years ago, he nearly did<\/a>, but a 15-footer that would\u2019ve tied him for the 72nd-hole lead brushed past the cup\u2019s left side, and Matt Fitzpatrick was your winner<\/a>. But what if Zalatoris hadn\u2019t been hurt? What if his back cooperated? Or at least not crippled him? We obviously can\u2019t know that. But we could learn soon what a healthy Zalatoris could look like. The \u201922 Open foreshadowed more pain to come. There\u2019ve been surgeries. Plural. There\u2019ve been withdrawals. Plural. There\u2019ve been returns. Plural. The latest comes Thursday, when Zalatoris tees off at the American Express tournament<\/a>, his second start since undergoing a procedure last May, and his first on the PGA Tour.\u00a0<\/p>\n He\u2019s hopeful, as he had been previously, but this time feels different, since it physically is. His surgery seven months ago was a full disc replacement; a 2023 procedure was a microdiscectomy<\/a> after he\u2019d herniated two discs. Put another way, Zalatoris said he believes the latest work solves all of his issues, rather than taking away only some of them. But new discs? Sounds unsettling. He\u2019s just 29, too. That seems like a lot of opening and closing to be performed before 30. But Zalatoris said he knew the operation had been done on others \u2014 \u201cfinally I said, look, let\u2019s go for it, we\u2019ve got the technology, we\u2019ve been putting it in long-drive guys, we\u2019ve been putting it in hockey players, it\u2019s been saving guys\u2019 careers,\u201d he said \u2014 and a week after he missed the cut last May at the PGA Championship, the work was done.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rory McIlroy has fitting solution for LIV stars\u2019 $6 million Ryder Cup problem<\/a><\/p>\n By:<\/p>\n Eight weeks later, he was putting.\u00a0<\/p>\n A couple weeks after that, he was chipping.<\/p>\n Fifteen weeks in, his doctor told him to play.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, Zalatoris can\u2019t stop. Thirty-six? Back-to-back days of 36? Gym work? All of the above. And all good.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m able to do the things that I haven\u2019t been able to do for years,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I know that\u2019s kind of a weird thing to say at 29 years old, but obviously you know what I\u2019ve been through for the last three, four, five years.\u201d<\/p>\n By no means was his play poor over that stretch, though. Over 10 majors from 2020 through 2022, Zalatoris was a player, securing six top 10 finishes, including the \u201922 U.S. Open runner-up and two others. He was the 2021 PGA Tour rookie of the year. Then, in August of 2022, he won his first PGA Tour event<\/a>, and he led both the PGA Tour\u2019s season-long points race and the DP World Tour\u2019s. But stops-and-gos followed. \u201cEverything kind of from there turned into, can you play, can you get by?\u201d he said. A week after his victory, he withdrew from the BMW Championship because of his back, then he WD\u2019d at the 2023 Masters<\/a> and underwent his microdiscectomy before returning at the end of that year \u2014 and playing about a year and a half until he underwent his latest procedure<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Doubt came at that point, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n He wondered whether he could continue.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIs this something \u2014 even though the surgeon says, hey, I\u2019m not going to see you for 20 years \u2014 is this true?\u201d Zalatoris said. \u201cThe little things that of course always creep into your mind. \u2026<\/p>\n \u201cThe mental side of it was very tough. Leaving the PGA not knowing if that was going to be my last professional golf tournament, given all the issues that I had had. But I would say that it only just gives you more appreciation when you come back out here.\u201d<\/p>\n In his latest time away, he said he\u2019s reworked his swing. (\u201cA lot of it is actually trying to understand my body a little bit better in terms of just how I rotate around my body,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of people always were pretty critical of my posture, how much I was kind of diving at the ball. The difference was is that I would say over the last year I did a very good job of managing it, but this time around there\u2019s no management.\u201d) He said he watched only some golf. The Ryder Cup. The majors. When friends were in contention. He played, though. One- and two-dollar games. He explored, too. \u201cLast fall I made a conscious effort of, once I was able to play 18,\u201d he said, \u201cgo play a bunch of new golf courses, go have some fun.\u201d<\/p>\n But it\u2019s what he didn\u2019t do that has him most optimistic.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tommy Fleetwood finally won. Now comes the hard part<\/a><\/p>\n By:<\/p>\n
\n ![\"Rory](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/RoryMcIlroyRyderCup.jpg\")
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\n James Colgan <\/a><\/p>\n
\n ![\"Tommy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TommyFleetwood1.jpg\")
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