Will Zalatoris had an eventful day through 13 holes at the Genesis Invitational on Friday. Up until that point, he had three birdies and four bogeys, and was within the winning range at 4 under.
But his round turned around on the 184-yard par-3 14th.
He scored an ace!
His shot caused the loudest roar Riviera Country Club had heard all week, sending the crowd into an absolute frenzy.
But Zalatoris didn’t just move up the leaderboard.he receives a new Genesis GV80, thanks to his lucky shot. His caddy, Joel Stock, will also receive a brand new vehicle, and Looper will be driving home his GV70, which is now electric thanks to the player. hole in one.
Zalatoris hole in one Friday marked the second time in his PGA Tour career that he achieved an ace, according to PGA Tour Communications. His first shot came on the seventh hole at Winged Foot in the first round of the 2020 U.S. Open. At that point, Zalatoris was virtually unknown to most golf fans.
He won the Korn Ferry Tour in Colorado earlier that summer and qualified for the U.S. Open a few months later. If you recall, the US Open was postponed from June to late September due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Zalatoris tied for sixth that week, marking his first top-10 finish at a major. Since then, the former Wake Forest Demon Deacon has recorded his five top-10 finishes at majors, including solo second place at the 2021 Masters and his 2022 PGA Championship.
Zalatoris lost to Justin Thomas in the playoffs at Southern Hills that year. A month later, he finished one stroke behind Matt Fitzpatrick at the 2022 U.S. Open in Brookline.
This week, Zalatoris’ hole-in-one puts him back in contention. He is currently at 6 under after 14 holes, three strokes behind leaders Jason Day and Luke List at the time of writing.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
