Photo by: AP
Deacon Sports Xtra: Five Questions with Will Zalatoris
7/7/2021 12:16:00 PM | Men's Golf
Former Wake Forest golfer Will Zalatoris made a spectacular run in the 2021 Masters, coming just shy of capturing the Green Jacket in his first appearance in the event — finishing just one stroke away from eventual winner Hideki Matsuyama.
Zalatoris left Wake Forest to turn pro in December of 2017 after a prolific collegiate career. He captured ACC Player of the Year and first team All-America honors earlier that year. He finished his remarkable Wake Forest career with four tournament wins and 15 top-five finishes in 40 events played. He set a Wake Forest program record with a 70.44 career stroke average, surpassing Bill Haas' mark of 70.87 from 2001-04.
Zalatoris recently chatted with Deacon Sports Xtra for this Five Questions feature.
I've heard people say you are intensely focused on golf, and it's that passion that drives you. How true is that?
Zalatoris: "Yeah I mean I'd probably give it 14 hours a day. I would say my mind is thinking about something related to it. I love playing the game, though. There's a difference between guys who treat it like a job, and they feel like 'oh I've got to work out, got to do this.' I love it. If I could, I could go play 36 holes everyday with my boys. Just like yesterday: people would normally take a day off after the two-week stretch that I had, but my way of relaxing and unwinding was going out and playing with three of my childhood best friends, and just going out and goofing off.
"We weren't playing for any money or nothing. It was a little two-on-two and it came down to the last hole and for some reason I care that I wanted to beat those guys, but it's just because I love the game. It's all for bragging rights and to talk about some good memories and whatnot and go make some more. I've always loved being around the game, and I've had that attitude since I was honestly four or five, I just couldn't get enough of it."
Is there anybody you've talked to in regard to your newfound fame?
Zalatoris: "Yeah, it's different. There's notoriety within the golf world, and then there's notoriety in the sports world, and the sports world is 100-times bigger than the golf world. I saw first-hand, I mean Jordan's (Spieth) rise was, if you think mine was meteoric you should have seen what his was like and watching it up close and in-person. When he was 19 it was just incredible to watch. Seeing how he handled all that — the guy is just an absolute role model in every walk of life on and off the golf course. Especially seeing what he did when he was 19-or-20 — if you emulate that guy, you know you're going to be doing some things right."
How did you approach the internet memes comparing your look to that of Adam Sandler's caddy in the movie Happy Gilmore?
Zalatoris: "I was actually playing at Wake in the Collegiate Showcase for the LA Open, and Golf Channel posted a picture of me after I won the Monday Showcase which got me into the LA Open, and a bunch of people commented on the post 'you look like Happy Gilmore's caddie.' I'd never heard that before. When I've got long hair, I'm not saying I look like him, but I look like him. But yeah, I've heard it for a while, and it's funny. I get all the Happy Gilmore lines now whenever I'm playing. Some guys go crazy with the Happy Gilmore lines here and there, and I just have to embrace it. People are out there rooting for you, out there to have a good time, they find me funny, think I look funny, and if I give them a laugh and give them a smile, I think I've done a good job."
Have you seen the Owen Wilson comparisons?
Zalatoris: "Yeah I've got some people that have said I look like Owen Wilson. The other one was Butch Harmon said I look like a "one iron without a grip," which I thought was hysterical, I've never heard that before. So, I've got all those on my wedges. I think it's going to be funny because I've done this for the last couple years where I've had my hair grown out for the winter months, and then I cut it really short in the summer. So I'm getting my summer cut, and hopefully I don't make too many people angry when they see me and I don't have long hair and I don't really resemble Owen Wilson or the caddie."
Have you been able to stay connected with Wake Forest folks in the past couple of months?
Zalatoris: "Yeah I was texting with coach (Jerry Haas), actually the team was out at my old home club, California Golf Club in San Francisco, and they were out there playing, and he sent me a nice video actually the morning before the tournament saying 'best of luck, young man.' That's a part that's just so cool about the Masters: it just brings out so many emotions in people. He sent me a really nice video of him just talking to me when he was walking through Cal Club. I'm excited for those guys. The team's as good as it's been in a very, very long time. I know we had some pretty good teams, but these guys are next-level stuff. I'm excited for them. They've really performed well, there's a lot of really good players that they've got, and they're still young - that's the fun part. They've got a couple of seniors up there, but there's still guys that are going to be coming through the pipeline for the next few years, and they're going to be really good for a long, long time."
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Zalatoris left Wake Forest to turn pro in December of 2017 after a prolific collegiate career. He captured ACC Player of the Year and first team All-America honors earlier that year. He finished his remarkable Wake Forest career with four tournament wins and 15 top-five finishes in 40 events played. He set a Wake Forest program record with a 70.44 career stroke average, surpassing Bill Haas' mark of 70.87 from 2001-04.
Zalatoris recently chatted with Deacon Sports Xtra for this Five Questions feature.
I've heard people say you are intensely focused on golf, and it's that passion that drives you. How true is that?
Zalatoris: "Yeah I mean I'd probably give it 14 hours a day. I would say my mind is thinking about something related to it. I love playing the game, though. There's a difference between guys who treat it like a job, and they feel like 'oh I've got to work out, got to do this.' I love it. If I could, I could go play 36 holes everyday with my boys. Just like yesterday: people would normally take a day off after the two-week stretch that I had, but my way of relaxing and unwinding was going out and playing with three of my childhood best friends, and just going out and goofing off.
"We weren't playing for any money or nothing. It was a little two-on-two and it came down to the last hole and for some reason I care that I wanted to beat those guys, but it's just because I love the game. It's all for bragging rights and to talk about some good memories and whatnot and go make some more. I've always loved being around the game, and I've had that attitude since I was honestly four or five, I just couldn't get enough of it."
Is there anybody you've talked to in regard to your newfound fame?
Zalatoris: "Yeah, it's different. There's notoriety within the golf world, and then there's notoriety in the sports world, and the sports world is 100-times bigger than the golf world. I saw first-hand, I mean Jordan's (Spieth) rise was, if you think mine was meteoric you should have seen what his was like and watching it up close and in-person. When he was 19 it was just incredible to watch. Seeing how he handled all that — the guy is just an absolute role model in every walk of life on and off the golf course. Especially seeing what he did when he was 19-or-20 — if you emulate that guy, you know you're going to be doing some things right."
How did you approach the internet memes comparing your look to that of Adam Sandler's caddy in the movie Happy Gilmore?
Zalatoris: "I was actually playing at Wake in the Collegiate Showcase for the LA Open, and Golf Channel posted a picture of me after I won the Monday Showcase which got me into the LA Open, and a bunch of people commented on the post 'you look like Happy Gilmore's caddie.' I'd never heard that before. When I've got long hair, I'm not saying I look like him, but I look like him. But yeah, I've heard it for a while, and it's funny. I get all the Happy Gilmore lines now whenever I'm playing. Some guys go crazy with the Happy Gilmore lines here and there, and I just have to embrace it. People are out there rooting for you, out there to have a good time, they find me funny, think I look funny, and if I give them a laugh and give them a smile, I think I've done a good job."
Have you seen the Owen Wilson comparisons?
Zalatoris: "Yeah I've got some people that have said I look like Owen Wilson. The other one was Butch Harmon said I look like a "one iron without a grip," which I thought was hysterical, I've never heard that before. So, I've got all those on my wedges. I think it's going to be funny because I've done this for the last couple years where I've had my hair grown out for the winter months, and then I cut it really short in the summer. So I'm getting my summer cut, and hopefully I don't make too many people angry when they see me and I don't have long hair and I don't really resemble Owen Wilson or the caddie."
Have you been able to stay connected with Wake Forest folks in the past couple of months?
Zalatoris: "Yeah I was texting with coach (Jerry Haas), actually the team was out at my old home club, California Golf Club in San Francisco, and they were out there playing, and he sent me a nice video actually the morning before the tournament saying 'best of luck, young man.' That's a part that's just so cool about the Masters: it just brings out so many emotions in people. He sent me a really nice video of him just talking to me when he was walking through Cal Club. I'm excited for those guys. The team's as good as it's been in a very, very long time. I know we had some pretty good teams, but these guys are next-level stuff. I'm excited for them. They've really performed well, there's a lot of really good players that they've got, and they're still young - that's the fun part. They've got a couple of seniors up there, but there's still guys that are going to be coming through the pipeline for the next few years, and they're going to be really good for a long, long time."
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