The question about Will Zalatoris has now changed.
It’s no longer, “Can he putt well enough to win on the PGA Tour?” Of course he can, as he proved once and for all with his gritty three-hole playoff victory over Sepp Straka in the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Sunday, highlighted by a collection of tournament-extending putts over the final hour.
Now, the question is whether Zalatoris is the player to beat as the FedEx Cup playoffs move to the BMW Championship. Zalatoris, who will turn 26 on Tuesday, finds himself atop the standings.
It looks that way.
"The process, we’ve been close and it finally paid off."
Will Zalatoris
With three runner-up finishes this season, notably at the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open, Zalatoris is literally a few inches away from a remarkable season that still could end up that way if he plays well during the next two weeks.
“I’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing. The process, we’ve been close and it finally paid off,” Zalatoris said after making a 7-foot bogey putt on the third extra hole to close out Straka after electing to take a penalty stroke rather than try to hit his second shot from against a rock wall near the green at the par-3 11th hole at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee.
“To see the decision pay off at the last is pretty cool,” said Zalatoris, who got up and down from 92 yards for the winning bogey.
They had tied at 15-under 265 through 72 holes and matched pars on two extra trips over the par-4 18th hole before the playoff moved to the 11th hole. Zalatoris has been in three playoffs this year, just the eighth player to go into extra holes that many times in one season.
It has been a turbulent couple of weeks for Zalatoris, who fired his long-time caddie Ryan Goble after the second round of the Wyndham Championship, citing the increasingly negative effect working together was having on their relationship.
With new caddie Joel Stock on the bag, Zalatoris shook off a slow start in Memphis and became just the second player (Camilo Villegas, at the 2008 BMW, is the other) to win his first PGA Tour title at a FedEx Cup playoff event.
It put a dramatic stamp on an eventful Sunday at TPC Southwind.
Before the final round, Cameron Smith – rumored to be heading to LIV Golf after the FedEx Cup playoffs and Presidents Cup – was assessed a two-stroke penalty for having played from an incorrect location on Saturday after hitting a shot in the water at the par-3 fourth hole.
After reviewing the situation Saturday evening, tour officials spoke with Smith, who acknowledged when he dropped his ball, it stayed on the red line, which meant he did not have full relief as required under Rule 17.1 (“Options for Your Ball in Penalty Area”). It dropped Smith from two strokes behind third-round leader J.J. Spaun to four behind.
“I thought it was simply going to be a situation where I asked (Cameron) the question and he was going to tell me that he was comfortable that his ball was outside the penalty area,” tour official Gary Young said. “When I asked him the question, unfortunately, he said to me, ‘No, the ball was definitely touching the line.’ So, at that point there’s no turning back.”
Smith did not speak with the media following his T13 finish.
Though he didn’t win the tournament, Lucas Glover was among the biggest winners Sunday, jumping from 121st on the points list to 34th thanks to his closing 66 and a T3 finish, giving him a chance to reach the 30-man Tour Championship with another good week.
Other players moving into the top 70 from outside were Adam Scott (77th to 445th), Andrew Putnam (87th to 47th) and Wyndham Clark (79th to 70th).
Ron Green Jr.