Will Zalatoris will undergo another back surgery that he said would force him to miss the entire 2027 PGA Tour season.
Zalatoris, 30, is a one-time winner on the PGA Tour, who rose to as high as No. 7 in the world after contending in multiple major championships but has been plagued with back trouble since withdrawing from the 2022 BMW Championship a week after his maiden Tour title. He had his first back surgery, a microdiscectomy, not long after withdrawing from the 2023 Masters, and an artificial disc replacement in 2025.
“I have two fake discs now,” he told Golfweek after a first-round 67 at the Valero Texas Open in April. “It’s like taking a Jenga piece away.”
His point in his analogy was that removing a piece from a Jenga tower, or a disc
from his back, damaged the integrity of the Jenga tower, or in this case his back, and never would be the same.
Speaking at a media day of the Austin Championship on Wednesday, Zalatoris said he would undergo spinal fusion surgery next month, the latest in a series of surgeries that had limited him to just four starts this season and 45 total starts in the past four seasons.
“I’ve been through four years of hell so it’s good to have something that will hopefully correct it,” Zalatoris told Golf.com. “It’s not something you want to do, but when you have three Tour physical therapists tell you it needs to be done at some time, you go ahead and do it.”
Zalatoris, who has finished second at the Masters and PGA Championship, suffered a torn right labrum this season, after recovering from his most recent back surgery in 2025.
“It’s all connected together and I just want to get It fixed,” he told Golf.com. “I can’t promise anybody anything because of what I’ve been through. I’m the oldest 30-year-old you will ever meet.”
Zalatoris is planning to play the Austin Championship at Omni Barton Creek Resort on Nov. 12-15 before undergoing surgery later that month, the same surgery that Tiger Woods had done in 2017 to repair his ailing back.
Zalatoris said he reinjured his back in San Antonio in April at the Valero Texas Open when he tried to play 27 holes in cool weather. That was his last start of the year.
“I’ve been in contact with the Tour, which has been great,” he said. “It looks like I can come back in 2028 and play in the Challenger Series if everything works like it should.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Will Zalatoris to miss 2027 PGA Tour season for surgery
