Will Zalatoris To Miss 2027 PGA Tour Season Due To Back Surgery

Will Zalatoris at the PGA Championship — (Image credit: Getty Images)

Will Zalatoris will miss the entire 2027 season due to upcoming back surgery, which he hopes will end the "four years of hell" he's experienced with constant injuries.

Zalatoris will play in the upcoming Austin Championship in November in what will be just his fifth PGA Tour start of the year and first since the Valero Texas Open in April.

The three-time Major runner-up has suffered from a torn labrum this year but the majority of his injury problems all stem from his back issues, which have required two previous operations.

That will become his third back surgery as, speaking at the media event for the Austin Championship, Zalatoris revealed he'll have a spinal fusion operation in November.

"I've been through four years of hell, so it's good to have something that will hopefully correct it," said Zalatoris.

"It's not something you want to do, but when you have three tour physical therapists tell you it needs to be done at some time, you go ahead and do it."

It means Zalatoris will have to sit out the 2027 campaign while he recovers from this major procedure, but he hopes it will final rectify the back issues that resulted in him having a microdiscectomy in 2023 and a disc replacement in 2025.

"I'm the oldest 30-year-old you will ever meet," Zalatoris, who turned 30 in August, joked about his medical history.

"It's all connected together, and I just want to get it fixed," he added about his injuries. "I can't promise anybody anything because of what I've been through."

Cruel injuries scupper Zalators career

Back problems have so far ruined what looked a hugely promising career for one of the best ball strikers on the PGA Tour - who received Rookie of the Year honors for the 2020-21 season despite only playing on a special temporary membership.

He has just one PGA Tour victory, at the 2022 FedEx St Jude Championship, but looked a Major champion in waiting after going close on a number of occasions.

Zalatoris finished second on his Masters debut in 2021 before then losing a playoff to Justin Thomas for the 2022 PGA Championship and finishing tied second behind Matt Fitzpatrick at the following US Open.

His sparkling iron play was largely behind his Major brilliance, with just the putter letting him down on the odd occasion so he could already have had a couple of Majors in his pocket.

He had six top-eight finishes, three of those second place, in his first 10 Majors before injuries forced him out of the game for long spells.

At Augusta National in particular he thrived with 2-T6-T9 finishes in his first three before missing the cut at his fourth appearance in 2025.

The recoil in his golf swing for someone as slightly built as Zalatoris put too much strain on his back though and he now hopes this latest surgery can finally cure his long run of problems. Still only 30 there's still plenty of time for him but he faces another tough road to recovery.

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website. Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush.