BROOKLINE, Mass. — As his putt approached the outlet on the 18th inexperienced on Sunday night, Will Zalatoris thought he was headed to an exhilarating playoff that may decide the U.S. Open champion. All of the ball needed to do was drop and Zalatoris and Matt Fitzpatrick would settle issues in a two-hole playoff.
“With about six toes to go, I believed I had it,” Zalatoris mentioned. He had checked his cellphone earlier and seen what Paul Azinger, the NBC golf analyst and former PGA Tour professional, had been saying. “That everybody missed that putt excessive,” Zalatoris added.
“He continued, ‘I used to be the closest one all day. I used to be, like, ‘thanks for the comfort prize.’”
Zalatoris is changing into painfully accustomed to comfort prizes. Final month, he misplaced the P.G.A. Championship to Justin Thomas in a playoff at Southern Hills in Tulsa. He completed second to Hideki Matsuyama within the 2021 Masters, simply seven months faraway from the Korn Ferry Tour. And now, one other second place end in one other main.
“It stings clearly to have three runners-up to this point in my profession in majors,” he mentioned. “We’re clearly doing the suitable issues. I’d pay some huge cash for about an inch and a half, and I’d in all probability be a three-time main champion at this level. We’ll simply hold doing what we’re doing.”
Zalatoris can look to the good Ben Hogan for historic comparability. Hogan was repeatedly labeled a bridesmaid for his lack of ability to win a serious all through the early and mid Nineteen Forties. He misplaced a playoff to Byron Nelson on the 1942 Masters after main by three pictures. He misplaced an opportunity at a playoff within the 1946 Masters when he three-putted from 12 toes, lacking a 30-inch putt.
“It simply wasn’t my time to win,” Hogan instructed The New York Occasions. “Nonetheless, there’s one other 12 months coming.” Two months later, on the U.S. Open exterior Cleveland, he once more three-putted on the 72nd gap, lacking one other brief putt and falling out of a playoff gained by Lloyd Mangrum. However later that 12 months, he gained the P.G.A. Championship, the primary of his 9 majors.
The distinction is that in contrast to Hogan, who had established himself as one of many sport’s premier gamers by constantly profitable different tournaments, Zalatoris continues to be on the lookout for his first victory on the PGA Tour. The consensus is that Zalatoris’s placing — notably the brief putt — is his Achilles’ heel. Although he putted comparatively nicely on the Nation Membership — till he missed that birdie on the final gap within the last spherical — he entered the match ranked a hundred and sixtieth on the tour in placing.
Requested what he thought when he noticed Zalatoris line up a putt, Collin Morikawa mentioned, “I pray for him. I imply, look, I’m not going to beat across the bush. I’ve mentioned it since school, something exterior of that 8- to 10-foot zone, I imply, it’s as easy as anybody else’s stroke.”
And within 10 toes?
“We’ve seen some squirrelly putts,” Morikawa mentioned. “Not that I’m the most effective putter and I’ve had that little squirreliness too, however I believe all of us form of get on our toes after we see it.”
Zalatoris had no bother profitable earlier than he arrived on the PGA Tour. He gained the 2014 U.S. Junior Beginner championship. At Wake Forest, he was an All-American and ACC Participant of the 12 months. He twice gained the Trans-Mississippi Beginner championship. He was on the victorious 2017 U.S. Walker Cup crew, which additionally featured Scottie Scheffler, who tied with Zalatoris for second place on Sunday, and Morikawa, who completed tied for fifth.
This season, along with three second-place finishes on the majors, Zalatoris has completed second to Luke Checklist in a playoff on the Farmers Insurance coverage Open. He tied for sixth on the Masters, fourth on the Zurich Basic and fifth on the Memorial Event.
His world rating has climbed to twelfth and he’s ranked eighth within the FedEx Cup standings. No golfer ranked that prime or larger has carried out so with out a minimum of one victory.
Sunday’s consequence on the Nation Membership was Zalatoris’s seventh top-10 end in 12 occasions this 12 months. He has completed within the prime 10 in six of the eight majors wherein he has performed. It’s a powerful file — minus a obvious gap, or three.
“It’s simply little issues,” mentioned Zalatoris, who turns 26 in August. “It’s not the identical factor at each single one. We’re speaking inches. It’s not like I completed runner-up by 4 or 5 a couple of occasions. It’s been one for all three. So I’ve simply received to maintain doing what I’m doing. I’ve received to maintain knocking on the door as a result of finally — like I mentioned earlier, the consolation degree is there.”
After Zalatoris had dissected his spherical and his ongoing battle to lastly crack the winner’s circle, he obtained a parting present from the USA Golf Affiliation: a silver medal for coming in second.