Will Zalatoris wins the second annual TPC Colorado Championship
Steady wins the race.
Will Zalatoris, the 23-year-old native of San Francisco, put in an expert performance at the TPC Colorado Championship in Heron Lakes last weekend. Zalatoris shot 67-67-70-69 during the four-day event to finish under at 15 and take his first career win.
Photo courtesy of PGA Media – Will Zalatoris lifts the 2020 TPC Colorado Championship trophy on Saturday afternoon.
“Finally,” said a visibly pleased Zalatoris in front of the assembled media after he had earned the victory. “It’s probably been four years since I won a golf tournament. It still hasn’t arrived. “
It wasn’t quite four years, but it was close. Zalatoris’ last win in any type of tournament came in 2017 when he took first place as a senior at Wake Forest at Duke University’s Rod Myers Invitational. When he started this week, Zalatoris had come this close as he tied sixth, third and fourth in his last three tournaments.
“Just hold on to the finish and trust it and get the job done day in and day out and it’s nice to see it finally pay off … it’s pretty nice,” Zalatoris said. “I think, to be honest, just a little consolation in the finals. I followed the last two tournaments from behind. “
Zalatoris’s performance was barely enough on Saturday’s final lap to hold off Chase Johnson, who set a course record of 63 to runner-up.
Johnson excelled in the final round on Saturday, carding 10 birdies over 18 holes, shooting 31-32 to get a 14-under and going into the clubhouse with part of the lead.
“It was fun, I came out today just thinking, ‘It’s kind of all or nothing for my position here,’ and I knew I could do it if I had a hot start to what I really call the top nine I could give myself a chance with the second nine, ”said Johnson on Saturday afternoon. “I just tried to be as patient as possible because you can’t force anything here.”
The $ 54,000 prize for second place secures Johnson, who entered the week on conditional status, his Korn Ferry Tour card for the remainder of the season. “We’re all trying to do that, to put ourselves in the competition, but actually to go to the last round and place a 63 to give us a chance, that’s a huge confidence boost.”
As great as Johnson was, Zalatoris was unfazed and kept playing his game. A birdie on the characteristic par-3 hole 16 brought him one shot ahead of Johnson.
Two par fours remained. A textbook four against 17 gave Zalatoris the leeway to only have to reach par 18 to avoid a playoff with Johnson. Zalatoris missed the fairway from the tee and found himself 212 yards out in the rough. He explained after the round that the goal was only to get to 40 feet, knowing that the one spot he couldn’t miss was on the right, where there was a deep bunker.
After hitting the approach shot, Zalatoris stated, “I told my caddy, ‘this is gone’ very stressful for a hassle-free exit.”
His birdie putt slipped past the top of the cup by a hair. A straight tripod remained and Zalatoris’s putt hit the cup dead center to claim victory.
The win and associated check for $ 108,000 for first place was enough to propel Zalatoris to the top of the Korn Ferry Tour money list for the season. In normal times, winning the TPC Colorado along with his three other top 5 finishes in Zalatori’s season would almost certainly secure a top 25 spot that would earn him his PGA Tour card for the 2021 season. But these are far from common times as a result of the devastation caused by COVID-19 and the Korn Ferry Tour which have chosen to forego table-based promotions this season.
Even so, given that win and strong and steady play on the Korn Ferry Tour this year, Zalatoris’ lifelong goal of playing the PGA Tour is much closer. The cherry on top? This fall, Zalatoris secured a place for the US Open in the traditional Winged Foot.
