Zalatoris Out For The Season

Will Zalatoris is one of the game's very hottest properties but the earliest that he might play in the Ryder Cup is at the age of 29.

The 26-year-old is the current World No. 8 but he will now miss the rest of the season, including an expected debut at the Ryder Cup in Rome, after undergoing back surgery.

An Instagram post read: 'After careful consideration and seeking multiple medical opinions, I underwent a successful microdiscectomy on Saturday. 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. I look forward to making a full recovery and seeing everyone in the fall. Thank you to Dr. Michael Duffy, Dr. Tom Kelton, and their respective teams for getting me fixed. And, of course, thank you to everyone for the support and the messages. I look forward to getting back to 100%.'

Tiger Woods has had four microdiscectomy procedures in the past 10 years and it is a surgery that repairs a ruptured or damaged lumbar spine disc.

Zalatoris, with finishes of 2nd and 6th in his two Masters starts, was well fancied at Augusta before he had to withdraw ahead of the opening round due to the back problems.

Otherwise he has four other major top 10s since 2020, including losing a play-off to Justin Thomas at the PGA last year, and a withdrawal at the 2021 Open at Sandwich after an opening 69.

He has won once at last year's FedEx St. Jude Championship and he looked a certainty to make the Presidents Cup team at Quail Hollow but he then had to miss the last four months of the season with two herniated discs in his back.

This year he has played seven times with one top-10 finish which came at Kapalua where he admitted that his back was already forcing him to swing differently.

“We spent a lot of time understanding the pressures on my golf swing and understanding how I push off my right side. I do it later than a lot of guys, so what that does for someone with a lot of side bend is that gets my right hip high and my spine is tilted back, and so as Dr. (Greg) Rose said, ‘duh, no wonder I had a back issue.’”