Tag: Will Zalatoris

Will Zalatoris earns first Korn Ferry Tour win at TPC Colorado Championship

Will Zalatoris held off some impressive challenges — including a record day from Chase Johnson — to win at 15 under overall.

BERTHOUD, Colo. — Will Zalatoris was sick of being the oh-so-close guy.

The 23-year-old golfer has been a near champion on the Korn Ferry Tour several times already this season but then unable to close on championship day.

He changed that Saturday.

Before the final round of the TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes, he wrote his caddie a winner’s check.

Speak it, or write it, into existence and it happened.

Zalatoris held off some impressive challenges — including a record day from Chase Johnson — to win with a round of 3-under 69 and at 15 under overall.

“Finally. It’s been probably four years since I’ve won a golf tournament,” said Zalatoris, who won his first tournament as a pro.

“It still hasn’t sunk in.”

When the Korn Ferry Tour re-started in June after the coronavirus break, Zalatoris immediately made a run at a title. He was first after three rounds at the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass but fell to sixth on the final day.

He finished third- and fourth-place at the next two tournaments, unable to catch the leader on the final day.

Finally, Saturday was his time to lift a trophy. He started shaky with a bogey on No. 2 but re-asserted control late with a sensational tee shot on the scenic par-3 No. 16. That set up a birdie.

It took an excellent second shot out of the rough on 18 to seal the win with a par.

“I knew I just needed to stay patient,” Zalatoris said. “Just a little bit of comfort in that final round.”

Zalatoris earns $108,000 for the win and moves to the top of the tour rankings. He shot 67 each of the first two days, a third-round 70 and then 69. Two more wins this season would earn an automatic PGA Tour card.

While his consistently strong play was the story of the tournament, Johnson was the story of the day.

The former Kent State golfer entered the final round seven strokes off the lead and off the radar in the trophy hunt. That was until he ripped off five birdies in the first seven holes.

He posted four more birdies on the first six holes of the back nine to grab first place. A bogey on No. 17 set him back, but he responded with his 10th birdie of the day on No. 18 to set a course record with a round of 9-under 63.

He was right in the mix for a playoff until Zalatoris made a late birdie. Johnson finished at 14 under for the tournament, one off his first win.

“That’s baller. That’s just absolutely balling,” said Zalatoris of his surprise challenger.

Zalatoris, Johnson and Riley Davis (who is now Zalatoris’ roommate) all played in a tournament together when they were 9 years old.

Johnson was playing the tournament on conditional tour status, needing to earn his way to his next tournament. This result secures his Korn Ferry Tour card for the rest of the season and nets him a $54,000 in prize money.

“It was fun. I came out today and was just like it’s an all-or-nothing for my position,” Johnson said. “I figured if I could get off to a hot start on the front nine, which I really like, I could give myself a shot on the back nine.”

Life on Tour: Sam Saunders ditches hotels, for life in nature on Korn Ferry Tour

Stephan Jaeger, Callum Tarren and Taylor Pendrith tied for third at 13 under overall to earn $26,625 each.

It’s only the second year of the TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes, but the first two have been thrillers. Nelson Ledesma won the inaugural event in 2019 with a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 18. Zalatoris and Johnson followed with the showdown Saturday.

Follow Kevin Lytle at twitter.com/Kevin_Lytle and at facebook.com/KevinSLytle. Coloradoan Sports can also be followed on Twitter. If you don’t already, please support local journalism at Coloradoan.com/subscribe. 

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Late birdies enable Will Zalatoris to top another packed leaderboard at Dye’s Valley

Will Zalatoris birdied two of his last three holes to lead the Korn Ferry Challenge at 10 under.

It will be another crowded leaderboard on Sunday in the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass.

They’re calling it the Korn Ferry Challenge.

It will be a challenge, all right … whoever wins on Sunday at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course will have earned it against one of the deepest fields in Korn Ferry Tour history.

Wake Forest graduate Will Zalatoris finally emerged on top after nine other players led or shared the lead at some point. He birdied two of his last three holes and with a 65, took a one-shot lead at 10-under-par 200.

James Bramlett, attempting to become only the second African-American to win on the Korn Ferry Tour, shot the day’s low round with a 64 — with a 6-under 29 on the back nine — and is tied for second at 9-under with fellow PGA Tour member Luke List (65), Chase Wright (66) and Lee Hodges (67).

Shad Tuten (67) and Theo Humphrey (67) are tied at 8-under. There are 10 players within three shots of Zalatoris and 15 within four shots.

Scores | Monday qualifier | Camilo Villegas leads after Round 2

After a third round that began with the players who made the cut on 1-under-par number still only five shots off the lead, the field spread out a bit more on Saturday — but not by much.

“It’s anybody’s ballgame,” Zalatoris said. “I’ve got a one-shot advantage, but you don’t even look at it as sitting on a lead. I’ve still got to go get it tomorrow. I’ve shot 10-under the last three days on a pretty tough golf course and I feel like every aspect of my game is clicking. If I win, great, if not, it’s still a learning experience. The ultimate goal is just to get better every day.”

Bramlett may have some added pressure. He will be trying to won the same day that one of his best friends in golf, Harold Varner III, will be contending at the Charles Schwab Challenge at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. Bramlett, Varner, Cameron Champ and Tiger Woods are the only African-Americans on the PGA Tour.

For a few holes on Saturday, both Bramlett and Varner led their respective tournaments.

“I feel extra inspired this week to play well, especially seeing Harold doing what he is doing,” Bramlett said. “Harold is doing it at Colonial on the biggest stage and to see what he is doing definitely adds a level of inspiration for me. I honestly want to catch him. If he is going to win, I want to win too. I want to get on it.”

Bramlett torched the back nine at the Valley (his front), beginning with a 40-foot birdie putt at No. 10. He dropped two more birdies, at Nos. 13 and 15, then holed a 9-iron from 172 yards out for an eagle-two at the par-four 18th hole.

How hard was that? The 17th is a converted par-5 hole and playing 500 yards. It’s the hardest hole on the course this week, averaging 4.371.

Nowhere close to being done, Bramlett then birdied No. 18 on a 12-foot putt, turned, and made two short birdie putts at Nos. 1 and 3 before he cooled off with two bogeys among his last four holes.

List will join Zalatoris and Bramlett in the final group. List hasn’t played on the Korn Ferry Tour since 2015, when he qualified for the PGA Tour, but wasn’t able to get into Colonial based on his current number at 124th on the FedEx Cup points list.

No matter. List is playing hard and birdied two of his last three holes to get into the last threesome.

“I would love to be at Colonial, but I kind of took it as a positive being here just to get my feet wet again,” he said. “I worked hard the last month of so, so it has been nice to see some good shots and good putts go in.”

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