Will Zalatoris has revealed that he's been forced to make a subtle change to his swing as he continues his comeback following back surgery.
The 27-year-old American made a strong start to the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club, with a five-under 65 to sit two shots behind the lead after the first round.
His round included a red-hot 29 on the front nine, which included six birdies, before adding two bogeys and another birdie on the back.
Speaking after his round, Zalatoris said the wind made the back nine significantly trickier, which showed on his scorecard.
“The front side today was nice because we're not having a ton of wind, and then the back side going back into the wind for five holes [was more difficult],” he said. “Even though seven under is leading and a bunch of guys are five-plus under, I think I hit gap wedge on 18 from 162 [yards]. It just shows you how windy it is.”
Zalatoris, who suffered two herniated discs and spent the majority of last year recovering from back surgery, has had a slow start to his season.
But since finishing last by nine shots at the Hero World Challenge on his return to action late last year, he has progressively improved in his three tournaments so far in 2024. He followed a missed cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii with a T34 at The American Express and a T13 at the Farmers Insurance Open.
The one-time PGA Tour winner believes his game is trending in the right direction, thanks to a long period of rest and moving the ball forward in his stance, which helps him put less pressure on his back.
“I think the extra time off helped,” he said. “I could've come back in six months but I took eight. It really gave me time to really think about things. Saying I finished a top 20 at Hero was not really the start I was looking for, finishing last by nine.
"But I think I'm trending every week and I'm learning something new about my game and where I'm at and the changes to my game and just getting used to it.
"I used to play the ball a little bit back in my stance a bunch, and now I'm playing it forward. It helps me be a bit more horizontal as opposed to so vertical, which puts a bunch of issues obviously on my back.”
He says he’s still getting used to the swing change.
“It's still a conscious effort. I think I got to get a couple more rounds under my belt to really let it freewheel. I know it's kind of weird to say that after shooting 29 on the front, but I think it's still having to think about what I'm doing behind the ball and then get over and just let it happen.
"Hopefully put myself in contention this week and then that's just going to get me that much comfortable.”
It wasn’t the only change he made on his comeback, having added a new putter to his bag which seems to be slowly paying off on the greens.
“I switched to the broomstick putter, which was a huge change. I couldn't hit balls basically for four and a half months, so I was able to kind of tinker around with that for a while," he said.
“I feel great with it. It's just so simple. It took me probably three-to-four months at home to actually kind of figure out how I want to use it. The big thing for me was playing in the wind was really hard with it, just because it's such a long lever. But I think after Hawaii, where I really struggled in the wind, I knew I needed to spend time really practicing that in the wind.
“From there, every putt is a straight putt now, regardless if it goes three, four, five feet past, just stick to the spot that I'm going to and accept where it goes from there.”
After struggling in his previous return from injury early last year, Zalatoris says the key to his comeback this time is keeping things simple.
“Thinking about the comeback last year, where obviously I was very unsuccessful, I think sticking to my roots of who I am as a ball striker but just simplifying everything – not getting caught up in pressure forces and all that stuff, just what feels comfortable. And then from there, let's see if we can add speed to it.
“So I think that really was part of the reason why, like in Bahamas, I was just kind of seeing where I was at, and then as that progressed over the last few weeks, it's just each week has been better and better and better. Like I said, I've just got to keep playing. Planning on playing next week and then from there it's just whatever I can get into.”
