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Zalatoris’ play on the Korn Ferry Tour has been, in a word,
impressive. He has finished in the top 20 in his last 11 starts, the
longest streak in that circuit’s history. He’s hitting 81% of greens
this season, which is on pace to be the most in KFT history, as well.
He’s also first in Scoring Average and Ball Striking.
“He
might be the best ball striker out there,” said Josh Gregory, a
performance golf coach based out of Maridoe. Zalatoris credits a lot of
his recent success to his work with Gregory along with Troy Denton, who
is the head golf professional at the club.
Denton calls Zalatoris a “freak ball-striker.”
Gregory
works with 11 golfers across the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA TOUR, and has
been with Zalatoris for the last 18 months. He said Zalatoris was the
“perfect candidate” for his way of teaching – mostly wrapped in games
and drills and repetition.
“That’s perfect for his nature. He’s
extremely structured in everything he does. That’s where the immediate
connection was. Most importantly… he always worked hard. He just needed a
bit more consistency for how to go about things each day,” said
Gregory.
“Candidly of all my TOUR guys, there is nobody that’s stuck to the plan better than he has.”
Past
FedExCup champion Jordan Spieth has seen Zalatoris’ fine ball-striking
up close since they were youngsters. They play frequently together at
Dallas’ Maridoe Golf Club in matches with fellow TOUR stars Ryan Palmer
and Scottie Scheffler and grew up playing junior golf in Texas.
“He’s
always been a good player, and a really good ball-striker,” said
Spieth. “We’ve been playing quite a bit over the last couple of years
and the progression of his game… he’ll just be able to contend
everywhere.”
Spieth said Zalatoris struggled during a growth spurt
while in high school that saw him go from 5-foot-4, 140 pounds to
6-foot-1, 145 pounds in less than a year and a half. His golf as junior
was solid to that point, but he said he felt his body was “growing at
all different speeds”
Zalatoris received the Arnold Palmer
Scholarship from longtime Wake Forest Men’s Head Golf Coach Jerry Haas
despite his growth spurt struggles, and that was key for Zalatoris’
psyche. He knew someone believed in him.
Even then, Spieth said, Zalatoris had a good kind of swagger to his game.
“He’s
always been a pretty cocky player and I mean that in the best way
possible,” said Spieth. “You have to have that on the golf course.”
Spieth
believes it won’t take too long for Zalatoris to have an impact on the
TOUR. He’s already played well on one of the bigger stages in the sport
at the U.S. Open. It wouldn’t be surprised if Zalatoris won a PGA TOUR
event quickly.
“I don’t think it would surprise me at all,” said
Spieth. “You wonder how long I will take (Korn Ferry Tour golfers) to
have success and then, boom, they win that week.”
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Source: PGA tour
