Will Zalatoris spent the Masters weekend having back surgery that will end his PGA Tour season having played just seven times since returning from a previous back injury.
Zalatoris, who lost in a playoff at the PGA Championship and was one putt away from forcing a playoff in the U.S. Open last year, announced Monday on Instagram he had a microdiscectomy on Saturday after having sought multiple medical opinions.
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“As much as I hate not being able to play the rest of this season, I am happy that I am already seeing the benefits of the procedure,” he wrote. “Playing and living in pain is not fun.”
Zalatoris is No. 8 in the world after a strong 2022. Along with the close calls in two majors, he finally broke through for his first PGA Tour victory in the FedEx St. Jude Championship, where he defeated Sepp Straka in a playoff.
But a week later, he withdrew in the middle of his second round of the BMW Championship. He sat out the rest of the year, missing the rest of the PGA Tour postseason and a chance to play in the Presidents Cup.
He returned in January and never seriously contended, with his lone top 10 in seven starts at the Genesis Invitational. Zalatoris played practice rounds at Augusta National but withdrew from the Masters before it started.
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