Will Zalatoris has experienced an absolute nightmare with injuries over the past couple of years.
Zalatoris only played in 11 PGA Tour events in 2025, before missing the rest of the season from May onwards.
The supremely talented Zalatoris was forced to undergo back surgery for the second time – something that is definitely not ideal for a player who hasn’t yet turned 30.
Interestingly, Zalatoris actually bulked up before the 2025 PGA Tour season, in an effort to provide more support for his back.
However, that clearly didn’t work out how he expected.
The 29-year-old burst onto the scene at The Masters in 2021, when he secured a second-place finish after ending the week just one stroke behind eventual winner Hideki Matsuyama.
He then recorded back-to-back runner-up finishes in the majors in 2022, at the PGA Championship and the US Open.
However, since then it has been a real uphill battle for him. Will he be able to rediscover his best form? Or are his best days already behind him?
What Will Zalatoris’ camp are saying ahead of the 2026 PGA Tour season
It has been painful for us, as fans, to witness Zalatoris’ problems with back injuries over the past couple of years.
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His first back surgery – a microdiscectomy – came in April 2023 before he underwent a procedure to address two re-herniated discs in May 2025.
When speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast with Rex and Lav, Hoggard responded when asked by Lavner to name the biggest disappointment on the PGA Tour in 2025.
He said: “Through no fault of his own, Will Zalatoris.
“When he had his first microdiscectomy in the spring of 2023, it was disappointing because he was on such a trajectory to become a superstar.
“He has the talent, he has the personality, he has the drive and he’d already closed out a big event in Memphis.
“When he came back I think we thought he was going to pick up where he left off, he was going to be this special player and maybe he does come out the other end.
“You and I have both spoken to people in his camp and there is a level of optimism.
“But the expectations were so high that this superstar that the game desperately needs, they need more new faces, he also has the personality, he’s fun to be around and for that to come screeching to a halt again was very disappointing.“
Lavner then delivered his take on Zalatoris’ situation.
He said: “It’s easy to overlook just where Will Zalatoris was in the summer of 2022.
“He had just won in Memphis and that time he was ranked number one on the FedEx Cup standings, looking at potentially getting a $25 million bonus.
“He was going to be playing on a Presidents Cup team.
“Then he had the injury in Delaware and it’s just been a really hard battle ever since. I think Will Zalatoris, a couple of years ago, had future world number one potential.
“He still might. He still might play on Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups but now there is a little bit of doubt in his future, just because his body has not cooperated.“
What Will Zalatoris’ doctor said after his first back surgery
All kinds of surgeries involving the back are extremely delicate operations.
Recoveries from them are seldom linear, and Zalatoris is clearly well aware of that.
When speaking in 2024 after returning to action post-microdiscectomy, Zalatoris revealed what his doctor told him about his recovery.
He said: “One thing that my surgeons did a good job of telling me was that the first year, your recovery is going to kind of feel like the stock market, where it goes up and down, but the line of best fit is going to hopefully trend up.”
The challenge for Zalatoris now will be to reinvent his swing so that he doesn’t put as much pressure on his back moving forward.
Whether he is able to do that, and compete for major championships again, remains to be seen, though.
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