Will plays with ‘house money’
Pebble Beach – Will Zalatoris (above) couldn’t imagine last summer that he’d be the first player of the week scheduled to speak to the media at one of the PGA Tour’s most iconic stops.
But that’s where the 24-yearold found himself on Tuesday ahead of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am as one of the pre-tournament favorites.
It has been a remarkable – and rapid – ascent for the former Wake Forest All-America golfer.
“I’m playing with house money, basically,” Zalatoris said.
He is one of the few who can admit to some rare good fortune during the coronavirus pandemic.
Toiling away on the Korn Ferry Tour seeking to earn his PGA Tour card, Zalatoris wasn’t planning on attempting to qualify for the 2020 US Open.
The event then got postponed from June until September due to the pandemic, giving Zalatoris time to earn a spot in the year’s second Major by leading the KFT points list in mid-August.
Zalatoris parlayed the US Open exemption the following month into a tie for sixth place at Winged Foot, highlighted by a hole-in-one in the first round.
The feel-good story kept building when he tied for eighth in the Dominican Republic the following week.
A momentary bump in the road with a missed cut at the Sanderson Farms Championship was followed by a T5 and a T16 in his next two starts.
That earned Zalatoris a special temporary membership from the PGA Tour for the remainder of the 2020-21 season.
With unlimited sponsors exemptions in his back pocket, Zalatoris enters this week with a T52, T7 and a T17 in his past three starts.
Ranked 2 006th in the world at the start of 2019 and 672nd entering 2020, Zalatoris cracked the top 50 for the first time this week.
He’s the 49th-ranked player in the world and the fourth betting favorite this week at plus-1800 by DraftKings – behind the only three top-20 players in the field, Patrick Cantlay, Daniel Berger and Paul Casey.
Despite having yet to win on the PGA Tour, Zalatoris is favoured ahead of Major champions Jason Day, Francesco Molinari and Jordan Spieth.
Obviously, it’s exciting,” Zalatoris said of cracking the top 50.
“Just want to keep getting better and keep on keeping on. So it’s been a fun year and we’ll keep on going.” –
Chennai – After losing four Tests in a row as captain, Virat Kohli (above) desperately needs his side to bounce back quickly from their crushing defeat by England in the opening match of the Test series.
Team changes are certain for the second match that starts in Chennai on Saturday after the 227-run mauling by Joe Root’s England that the media called “a shock” and a “rude jolt”.
Kohli returned from paternity leave to take charge of a team on a high after their landmark series win in Australia last month, when they came back from a match down to win 2-1.
Kohli lost twice in New Zealand, once in Australia – when he saw his side skittled out for 36 – and now at home to England in his last four Tests in charge.
While no one has criticised the captain, who got the top score of 72 in the Indian second innings of 192, there will be intense scrutiny of the way he and coach Ravi Shastri lift the team before the next of the four-match series.
Known for his aggression and demand for discipline within his side, Kohli has already vowed to come back fighting.
“We are a side that accepts our failures and faults and learns from them,” the captain said after the loss.
“One thing is for sure that in the next three matches we are going to give a tough fight and not let things slip away like it did in this Test.”
Kohli found fault with India’s batting and bowling in his post-match comments when he praised England for being “far more professional”.
The top-order batting “left a lot to be desired”, he said.
The bowlers gave away too many runs when England hit 578 in the first innings after Root won a crucial toss.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin claimed six wickets to dismiss England for 178 in the second innings but received little help from Shahbaz Nadeem.
Kohli singled out slow bowlers Washington Sundar and Shahbaz for criticism.
“You need your bowling unit to step up and create pressure on the opposition, Fast bowlers and Ashwin, bowled consistently well in good areas,” he added. –