BROOKLINE, Mass. — Be it his own personal affirmations of confidence, the numerous close calls and final-round leads, or the plethora of pundits and fellow golfers who’ve stated that Will Zalatoris’ time is coming, the Dallas resident appears to be trending toward his first PGA Tour win sooner rather than later.
With all that being said, Zalatoris, on Thursday at least, relished the baby steps that it takes to get there.
“Nice to finally shoot under par in a U.S. Open,” the 25-year-old said.
Zalatoris shot a 1-under 69 in the first round of the U.S. Open at The Country Club and is in a 12-way tie for 14th place. He’s three shots behind leader Adam Hadwin (-4), and two shots behind the five players tied for second at -3.
And, yes, even though he tied for sixth at the tournament in 2020, Zalatoris shot 5-over on a tricky Winged Course Golf Club and didn’t break par in any of the four rounds. He missed the cut in the 2018 and 2021 iterations.
On another difficult track Thursday, where only 25 players shot under par, Zalatoris managed more circles than squares on his scorecard. While a victory has proved elusive through the first two years of Zalatoris’ career on the PGA Tour, he’s found success in major championships with six top-10 finishes and a pair of runner-ups.
Those events have included stops at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla., (the course with the highest average score on Tour this season, where he finished second at the PGA Championships) Augusta National in Augusta, Ga., (the course with the second-highest average score, where he finished tied for sixth at the Masters this year and second last year) and The Ocean Course in Kiawah Island, S.C., which Golf.com considers one of the toughest courses in America. Zalatoris tied for eighth at the PGA Championship held there last year.
That, Zalatoris has realized, has proven to be an invaluable resource as he treks The Country Club.
“It’s kind of nice now after playing this many majors,” Zalatoris said. “... there’s kind of a new level of comfort. This place is a beast. The wind right now is not making this any easier. There’s some pretty tough pins even for a day like today.”
The Wake Forest alum opened his round with bogeys on his first and fourth holes and entered the turn at 1-over par after a seventh-hole birdie. He bogeyed hole 10 to kick off the back nine, but birdied 13, 14 and 17 to sneak under 70 headed into the clubhouse.
“I made a bunch of putts coming in,” Zalatoris said. He tied for 24th in strokes gained putting on Thursday. “Basically the last seven, eight holes I feel like I didn’t miss anything. Kind of [want to] bottle that up and keep it going for the next three rounds.”
Spieth plays through stomach virus
An illness cast a shadow on Jordan Spieth’s first round, but the Dallas native avoided enough trouble to keep himself within striking distance after round one.
After he bogeyed three of his first four holes, Spieth settled in to shoot under par in his remaining 14 holes and finished his first round with a 2-over 72, tied for 57th. In his final five holes on the front nine, Spieth carded three birdies and hit the turn at 1-over, but had two bogeys to one birdie on the back.
Spieth, the 10th-ranked golfer in the world and 2015 U.S. Open champion, reportedly left The Country Club abruptly after his practice round on Wednesday. According to Todd Lewis of the Golf Channel, Spieth had a “strong stomach bug,” but was seen at the driving range on Thursday hours after his round.
With a 1:14 p.m. tee time on Friday, he has a bit of extra time to rest up.
Scheffler finishes strong in round one
With low scores were hard to come by at The Country Club on Thursday, the world’s top-ranked golfer carded back-to-back birdies to close his U.S. Open first round.
Scottie Scheffler, the reigning Masters champion who’s won four times on Tour this season, shot an even-par 70 and is in a tie for 26th place.
He sank a 16-foot-2 birdie putt on his final hole (the ninth hole on the course, because he started on the back nine) to cap off his first day. On the par five seventh hole — which rated as the easiest hole of the day — Scheffler took advantage of a strong approach shot which left him a four-foot birdie putt.
He hit 11 of 14 fairways, and was tied for 11th in strokes gained off the tee.
