Will Zalatoris Sets Course Record As He Closes In On Long-Awaited PGA Tour Return

Will Zalatoris would appear to be recovering well from back surgery, with reports of a course record 63 circulating just six months after going under the knife.

The American was forced to withdraw from the 2022 BMW Championship because of a back issue, which led to a lengthy layoff.

The 27-year-old returned to action at the start of the year and produced a couple of encouraging results, including a fourth-place finish at the Genesis Invitational in February.

However, Zalatoris suffered another setback prior to the Masters in April when he was forced to withdraw at the very last minute.

Zalatoris, who has finished runner-up in three of the four Major Championships, then underwent a microdiscectomy, which helps relieve pain when a herniated disc in the spine presses on an adjacent nerve.

“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. Playing and living in pain is not fun,” he said in a statement that was shared on Instagram.

It sounds as though the fun times have returned, though, with Underdog Golf reporting that the former US Junior Amateur champion went very low (63) at Brook Hollow Golf Club in Dallas.

The former world number eight is listed on the 2023 Hero World Challenge player list, a tournament hosted by Tiger Woods in the Bahamas at the end of November.

There are three PGA Tour events before that time, although Zalatoris appears to have set his sights on a return to action at Woods’ event.

A number of updates on Zalatoris’ progress have been released over the last six months. After undergoing surgery, he was back chipping golf balls in July.

Not long after, he revealed that he had been completing a degree at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

“I'm graduating right now, finishing up my degree from Wake Forest,” Zalatoris explained on the Chris Vernon Show.

"Now, I'm starting to be able to do stuff, it's great. Because the first eight weeks where I wasn't able to do anything... I ordered every book I could possibly find and I'm not much of a reader. I'm like signing up for classes. I'm finding stuff to do just because I knew I was going to go insane.”