Will Zalatoris reveals reaction to nearly hitting THAT shot

If you were shouting at the TV telling Will Zalatoris to take a drop on Sunday night, don’t worry, you weren’t alone. 

The new world No. 9 picked up his first PGA Tour win on Sunday at the FedEx St Jude Championship after a three-hole playoff, but it wasn’t before it nearly all went wrong.

Before eventually finishing things off, Zalatoris found himself in a rather unusual spot, with his ball on the sliver of rock between the water and the edge of the green of the par-3,11th. 

For a while, it looked like the new FedEx Cup leader might take the shot on. Mercifully, he went to the drop zone, where he got up-and-down from to beat Sepp Straka.

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“The resounding texts that I got were basically everyone was screaming at the TV not to hit that shot,” Zalatoris explained.

“It’s tough because you’re 20-feet from the hole and all I’ve got to do is move it a foot forward, and I basically win the golf tournament unless I do something silly.” 

The California native, and his new caddie, Joel Stock, took some time to assess where Will’s ball was sitting, which meant Straka, who found the water from the tee, played before him.

“If I had known that my ball was basically unplayable, I would have had to go and hit first and apply the pressure to him,” he continued.

“I ended up thinking I might have a chance to play it and the crowd’s reaction made it look like the ball hopped off the rocks and was just barely in the rough and had kind of an easy up-and-down and it kind of forced his hand to go at it.

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“I was very much wanting to go back and hit it after everything was done, but I had to get going. But, you can go ahead for certain and assume that if I’m at Memphis next year, I will be 100-per-cent trying to pull that shot off.”

Zalatoris now goes into this week’s BMW Championship at the top of the FedEx Cup standings, in pole position to take home the $18m dollar prize on offer to the winner.