S.F. native Zalatoris PGA Tour’s top rookie
Will Zalatoris, a San Francisco native who made a spirited run at winning the Masters in April, was named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year on Monday.
Zalatoris, who lived in the Bay Area until his family moved to Dallas when he was 9, earned top rookie honors — the Arnold Palmer Award — in a vote of his peers. He posted eight top-10 finishes in the 2020-21 season, including a second-place showing at Augusta National.
“The past two years have just been so wild,” said Zalatoris, who jumped from the Korn Ferry Tour to special temporary membership on the PGA Tour in November. “If you told me I would be sitting here as Rookie of the Year, especially when we had the four-month layoff ... I would have had a tough time believing you. It’s a really great honor.”
Zalatoris, 25, started the final round of the Masters four strokes behind eventual winner Hideki Matsuyama. Zalatoris quickly cut his deficit to one, watched Matsuyama pull away and rallied with two late birdies to give himself a chance.
Matsuyama ultimately won at 10-under-par, one stroke ahead of Zalatoris.
“When I was playing in the Masters, I wasn’t playing with any expectations,” Zalatoris said. “I had nothing to lose.”
Zalatoris also tied for sixth in the 2020 U.S. Open, postponed until last September, and tied for eighth at the PGA Championship in May.
Matsuyama and Zalatoris are among the marquee players in the field for this week’s Fortinet Championship in Napa.Top-ranked Jon Rahm and six-time major champion Phil Mickelson also will play in the event, which begins Thursday at Silverado Resort.