After putting himself in contention at the Majors in his brief stint as a pro, Will Zalatoris had the belief that he could win on the PGA Tour. The question was how soon? That got answered after the playoff at the FedEx St Jude Championship on Sunday.
Excerpts from an interview:
Will, your first ever PGA Tour victory, comes in your first ever FedExCup playoff event and it wasn’t easy. You’ve come so close so many times, what does this victory mean to you?
Related: Will Zalatoris delivers, ‘what are they gonna say now?!’
Will: Yeah, it was a grind. This week, didn’t have my best stuff on Thursday and just kept telling Joel (caddy), just keep waiting till the weekend, and to kind of see that decision pay off at the last was pretty cool.
No. 1 in the FedExCup standings now, you head to BMW Championship and you’ve already guaranteed yourself a spot at East Lake. How are you going to continue to stay sharp here as these Playoffs go on?
Will: Yeah, I mean, just got to keep doing what we’re doing. I said that before this first win and obviously the process, we’ve been close and to see it finally pay off has been awesome.
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Feel a little relief?
Will: Not yet. Adrenaline’s still pumping.
One of the great things about someone winning for the first time is the sense of accomplishment and the sense of belonging, but given how well you’ve played over two years, did you prove anything to yourself today that you didn’t already know?
Will: Yeah. I mean, I think anytime you put yourself in contention you’re going to — you’re going to learn something about yourself. The first second at the Masters was life changing because it put me in position to play out here as much as I wanted to and put me kind of on the map. The second at the PGA was kind of affirmation that it wasn’t a fluke of a week, and the third one at the U.S. Open gave me that much more belief that I can win a major, I can win out here. It was just a matter of time and obviously this was my week.
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It sounded like when you made the putt on the 72nd hole, you said, “What are they going to say now?” It’s probably very instinctual and a kind of emotional moment. Why do you think that’s what came out in that moment?
Will: I did say that. Yeah, you know, I’m a big Warriors fan and obviously Steph, he’s a Cal club guy, he’s a pretty big inspiration obviously. I follow the Warriors like crazy and when he said that, it kind of related to kind of my journey so far. So being that close and then kind of being written off here and there and then obviously finally pulling off, it was — I actually can’t believe I said that actually. At least it wasn’t something worse, but yeah.
