FedEx St Jude Championship: Will Zalatoris secures first PGA Tour victory with play-off win over Sepp Straka
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Updated 15/08/2022 at 07:39 GMT
The first of the FedEx Cup play-offs is in the books, with Will Zalatoris securing the win in the FedEx St Jude Championship at TPC Southwind. It is on to the Wilmington Country Club for the BMW Championship next week and Zalatoris will take confidence after beating Sepp Straka in a play-off after a stunning slugfest down the closing holes in Memphis.
'It's a wild time for golf' says Zalatoris as he hits out at LIV Golf
After near misses in majors and a string of top-10 finishes, Will Zalatoris broke his PGA Tour duck in stunning fashion with a dramatic play-off victory over Sepp Straka at the FedEx St Jude Championship.
In the first of the three FedEx Cup play-offs, Zalatoris produced superb golf on Sunday - as did Straka - and held firm in extra holes for the win at TPC Southwind.
A first PGA Tour win was reward in itself for Zalatoris, but it propelled him to the top of the FedEx Cup standings - leapfrogging world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler who missed the cut on Friday.
Zalatoris, who was two-over after the first 11 holes of the tournament, made his move early in the round, as birdies in his opening three holes took him to the top of the leaderboard above overnight leader JJ Spaun and Straka.
He found trouble off the tee on seven and it resulted in a bogey to surrender the lead. He got that shot back on 10 but came under pressure from Straka down the stretch.
Zalatoris missed a short putt for a birdie on 14 and found a horrible lie in the rough on 15. He could only advance it short of the green, but produced a stunning chip to save his par.
As well as pieces of brilliance. Slices of luck also help. He got one on 16 as, after leaking his tee shot into the trees on the right, he saw it hit a branch and fly back into the fairway.
For added spice, it flew forwards rather than sideways or backwards. "That does not happen in real life,” came a call from the commentary box.
Zalatoris took advantage to secure a birdie and move back into the lead at 15-under, only for Straka to strike back.
Shorter-range putting is the weakest part of Zalatoris' game, but he rolled in a 10-footer for par on 18 - letting out a roar of emotion when it dropped - to secure a spot in the play-off.
Zalatoris played the opening play-off hole in textbook fashion, with a green in regulation and two putts for a par. Straka did the same, but made far harder work of it as he rolled a putt that was for the win a good six feet past the cup, but stroked in the return effort to send them down 18 for a second time.
Driver was Zalatoris’ club of choice in regulation and the first play-off hole. It felt like too much club, and that proved the case on his third tee shot on the hole of the day as he airmailed the fairway on the right, landed on the path and went within a couple of feet of going out of bounds.
Straka had the option to play safe, but he took the aggressive line and added to the drama by going within a couple of feet of finding the water on the left. Zalatoris chipped out sideways, and after contemplating playing his shot with one foot in the water, Straka took a drop and fired his third to five feet.
Zalatoris hit his third to 10 feet, on the same line as Straka’s ball. The American showed tremendous guts to roll in his putt and Straka followed him in, as the play-off went to the third extra hole - the 11th.
Island greens are so much fun. And dramatic. On a course that has seen more balls find the water than any other course on the PGA Tour, it was inevitable that water would play a part.
Zalatoris came up short with his tee shot but after it bounced on the rocks about three times, it somehow did not drop into the drink.
It was advantage Straka, for about 15 seconds. The Austrian inexplicably came up short and found water. From the penalty zone, Straka sent his third shot long and into the bunker.
At that point, Zalatoris’ mind should have been made up: go back to the drop zone and play three. Initially he did not, and thought about playing from where it was wedged between grass and rock. Zalatoris had a new caddie on the bag, and he earned his money by persuading his man to pick up and go to the drop zone.
After talking through the shot, Zalatoris sent his ball to eight feet. From there, the American rolled in a quick putt to enter the winners’ circle for the first time.
There’s much disruption in golf at the moment, but once again it was another brilliant advert for the PGA Tour.
Final Leaderboard
- 1. Will Zalatoris, 15-under
- 2. Sepp Straka, 15-under
- T3. Lucas Glover, 12-under
- T3. Brian Harman, 12-under
- T5. Trey Mullinax, 11-under
- T5. Adam Scott, 11-under
- T5. Jon Rahm, 11-under
- T5. Collin Morikawa, 11-under
- T5. Tony Finau, 11-under
- T5. Matt Fitzpatrick, 11-under
- T5. Andrew Putnam, 11-under
Cameron Smith began the final round knowing victory would have taken him to the top of the world rankings. His challenge was hit by a two-shot penalty for playing the ball from an incorrect position in round three.
He began the round with a brilliant birdie, and looked in the mood to undo the damage of the previous day. But he was too wayward with his longer clubs and he could not gain any traction and slipped back to finish at nine-under after a round of 70.
In what was his first outing since winning the Open, Smith raised hope that his stated aim of winning the FedEx Cup is within reach.
Jon Rahm produced an encouraging performance, in the week he welcomed his second child into the world.
The Spaniard struggled at times with the putter, but he found form with it on Sunday in a round of 66 - his best of the week - to leave the impression he is ready to strike.
Tony Finau came up short in his bid for a third win in a row, but he put up a fine fight and finished at 11-under.
Collin Morikawa was another to show a return to form to finish in the group at 11-under, the same score as US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick and Adam Scott.
Justin Thomas produced his best round of the week, a 66, to climb to nine-under and suggest his game is trending up going into the BMW Championship.
Seventy players make it through to next week's BMW Championship and Wyndham Clark was the man to breathe the biggest sigh of relief as he made the cut bang on 70 after finishing at seven-under for the tournament.
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