Will Zalatoris will go back into the operating theatre in November to undergo a spinal fusion, a procedure that, he has announced, will force him to miss the entire 2027 PGA Tour season. Another operation, another rehabilitation and another comeback that will have to wait.
The announcement came on Wednesday during a presentation day for the Austin Championship. Zalatoris explained the decision with a mixture of hope and fatigue, after finding that previous procedures had not allowed him to regain the continuity he needs.
“I’ve spent four years in hell, so it’s good to have an option that, hopefully, can fix it. It’s not something you want to do, but when three tour physiotherapists tell you that at some point you’ll have to, you go ahead”, he said,
The figures help to understand the scale of the problem. Zalatoris has played 45 tournaments in the last four seasons and just four in 2026. A calendar interrupted time and again for a player who reached World No. 7 and became accustomed to contending in majors before his back began to shape his career
From contending in majors to a string of operations
Zalatoris was runner-up at the Masters and the PGA Championship, and recorded his first PGA Tour victory in 2022. However, just a week after opening his record he had to withdraw from the BMW Championship due to back problems. That contrast between triumph and injury became the start of a long sequence of difficulties
In 2023, after withdrawing from the Masters, he underwent a microdiscectomy. In 2025 there was another procedure, this time to place artificial discs. Last April, after carding a 67 in the first round of the Valero Texas Open, he used a Jenga comparison to explain how he understood the state of his back
“I now have two artificial discs. It’s like removing a piece from Jenga”, he said. The image of that tower having a piece removed served to describe the loss of stability he associated with everything he had been through
That San Antonio tournament was precisely his last competitive appearance to date. According to his account now, he reinjured his back trying to play 27 holes in cold temperatures. In addition, this season he suffered a torn labrum, another setback after recovering from the 2025 operation. “Everything is connected and all I want is to fix it”, he acknowledged
One last outing before pausing again
Before undergoing the new procedure, he intends to play the Austin Championship, from 12 to 15 November, at the Omni Barton Creek Resort. Then, at the end of that same month, the spinal fusion will take place, the type of surgery Tiger Woods underwent in 2017 to treat his back problems
Zalatoris has already held talks with the PGA Tour about his possible return. The scenario he envisages is in 2028 and involves the Challenger Series, provided his recovery progresses as he hopes. He doesn’t present it as a certainty, but as the possibility he’s trying to cling to
“I’ve been in contact with the circuit, which has been very good to me. It looks like I could return in 2028 and play the Challenger Series if everything goes as it should”, he explained. But he also issued a warning that prevents any timetable from being guaranteed: “I can’t promise anything to anyone after everything I’ve been through”.
