Will Zalatoris makes return to Augusta, leaned on this Masters champion during recovery
Monday at Augusta National Golf Club meant that much more to Will Zalatoris.
A year ago to the day, he underwent back surgery, just three days after withdrawing from the 2023 Masters Tournament. He played a practice round Monday morning with someone who lent a hand throughout his recovery process: five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods.
The two had been in touch since last fall, meeting at a charity event in October.
“You know, it's kind of more of just hey, how you feeling? You feel this? You feel that? The patience game is really hard,” Zalatoris said. “Obviously he had gone through way more than what I had gone through. Having the same surgeons, kind of the same team, you know, just having the conversation I guess about, hey, after this amount of time how do you feel? After this amount of time how do you feel?”
Zalatoris withdrew prior to the first round in 2023.
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“I was just hitting some irons and I felt my back jar, and specifically I knew exactly what it was with the two discs. I started feeling the symptoms go down my legs. I wanted it tough out but knew there was – I had been obviously battling it for a while. I kind of kept things pretty under wraps in terms of even talking to my team about it. My team thought I was almost just more frustrated with my game, and in reality I was more frustrated with my body and the limitations that I had. It really just finally gave out.”
He flew home Thursday and, after several meetings with his medical team, he had the surgery Saturday morning.
“It really was the best thing that could have happened because I was very prudent by not getting surgery the first time I hurt it,” he said. “At 26 years old you don't go straight into surgery. You try to do every avenue to avoid it, and then finally once it gave out, we exhausted all options and knew we needed to do it.”
Zalatoris has come back strong in 2024, tying for second at the Genesis Invitational and tying for fourth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. It came down to learning the realistic timetable for the recovery process.
“Realizing that even if a doctor tells you 12 weeks, we're trying to win and compete at the highest level; it's technically longer. I feel great. This is the best I've felt, you know, the last – I think the best way to put it is I kept thinking I was at 100% as I've come back, and each month I've picked up a little more speed, had a little more endurance.”
As for his outlook for the 2024 Masters, he said it’s all about making it to the weekend. Wind and rain are in the forecast for Thursday and Friday.
“Saturday and Sunday look unbelievable; Chamber of Commerce day. So I can see maybe playing a little bit more defensive Thursday, Friday, and the Saturday, Sunday will be what we always dream of having a weekend at Augusta,” he said. “I think just being extra patient. Some gusts will pop up. Over the 18 holes I played over the last two days I think I've played 15 out of the 18 into the wind. But that's just Augusta. It's swirling everywhere all the time and you just have to be patient with it.”
Did he pick up anything playing with Woods on Monday? Well, the short answer is yes.
“You know, I would say yes. I'm not willing to share them, but, yeah, I learned quite a few things,” he said, smiling. “A lot of things in the sense of kind of confirming strategy around this place.”
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Will Zalatoris at 2024 Masters, gets recovery advice from Tiger Woods
