This was one of the craziest activations in the history of the PGA Tour.
The final round of the FedEx St. Jude – Round one of the PGA Tour playoffs – Some amazing drama on Sunday night. Will Zalatoris and Sepp Straka entered a 15-under playoff after the 18th hole. After trading bars in the first two slots of the playoffs, the golfers headed to Class 3 11, with Zalatoris first to participate.
The 25-year-old American hit a wrong shot that looked like it was headed straight for the water, which would have put Strika on the path to victory. But in what can only be described as a miracle, his ball hit the stone wall protecting the water, bounced through the air several times, and somehow managed to rest safely on the edge – and out of the drink.
While Zalatores evaded the penalty, he still had a near-impossible lie under the turf line above the wall, paving the way for Straca to win if he could pass the ball into the green. Instead, the Austrian made a near-identical shot with Zalatores – only his ball was not so lucky and ended up in the water.
Straka returned the ball to the tee for his third shot after the penalty kick, and was unable to find the green again, hitting the vault. After watching the advantage shift further in his direction, Zalatoris then decided to take the penalty himself, as hitting the ball off the stone ledge was a potential disaster.
He managed to find the green with his second shot on the tee – and smashed a punch to win the championship and earn the winning check of $2.7 million.
The win was Zalatoris’ first on the PGA Tour, although he came painfully close on multiple occasions. He finished second in the 2021 Masters in his first season on the PGA Tour, and in 2022 he lost to Justin Thomas in a PGA Championship playoff and came second again at the 2022 US Open in Brooklyn.
In the first round of the PGA Tour qualifiers, producer Wake Forest finally tasted victory.
“Alcohol enthusiast. Twitter ninja. Tv lover. Falls down a lot. Hipster-friendly coffee geek.”