{{ubiquityData.prevArticle.description}}
{{ubiquityData.nextArticle.description}}
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA | Hideki Matsuyama won the green jacket, but in many ways 24-year-old Will Zalatoris won the week at the Masters.
Zalatoris finished one stroke behind Matsuyama in his Masters debut and while he made himself a star, he left Augusta National thinking about what might have been.
It was only the second major championship Zalatoris has played as a professional, the other being a T6 finish at the U.S. Open last September. If he appears to belong, it’s because he does.
“I think the fact that I’m frustrated I finished second in my third major (he played one as an amateur) says something, and the fact that I didn't let any moment really get to me, was really exciting,” Zalatoris said early Sunday evening, his eyes still gleaming from the chase.
Zalatoris, who is playing the PGA Tour on special temporary member status until he wins an event or finishes the regular season ranked among the top 125 in FedEx Cup points (a sure thing now), has been a perpetual presence in contention, having made 12 consecutive cuts.
Beyond his power, the most striking thing about Zalatoris at Augusta National was how comfortable he seemed. He wasn’t overwhelmed by the moment. He wasn’t intimidated by the challenge.
Zalatoris loved it.
“(An) absolute dream, to be in a situation I’ve been dreaming about it for 20 years,” Zalatoris said. “I thought I did a really good job this week of just enjoying the moment, but not letting it get to me. I think I kind of let everything soak in Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and then back to work on Thursday.
“So it was an absolute treat, and obviously to come up one short and be disappointed is motivating but obviously very exciting.”
Starting the final round four behind Matsuyama, Zalatoris made the first move with birdies on the first two holes. By the time he reached the third hole, Zalatoris was only one stroke behind Matsuyama but a bogey there doubled his deficit.
Early in the back nine, Zalatoris found himself six strokes behind Matsuyama before the gap closed quickly on the finishing holes.
“I looked at every leaderboard all the way in,” Zalatoris said. “I’ve seen enough coverage of this tournament, when they put the time stamps of leaderboards where at 4:15 Eastern there’s a five-shot lead and at 4:30 it turns to three and at 5:00 there's three guys tied for the lead. So I knew I needed to stay in it.”
If Zalatoris has one regret, it was his failure to birdie the par-5 13th hole in any of the four rounds.
“That’s really the difference,” he said.
Ron Green Jr.