Consider that 17 months ago, Zalatoris had no status on any professional tour. After leaving Wake Forest University a year early in 2018 and failing to make it past the first stage of Q School, he was Monday qualifying his way into events on the developmental Korn Ferry Tour in the States at the start of 2019. When he finished 41st in his first start of 2019, he was 2,004th in the world rankings.

By last September, he’d worked his way up to 119th in the world and to the top of the Korn Ferry Tour, which the USGA deemed good enough to invite him to play the US Open at Winged Foot, as it filled the field without open qualifiers. Zalatoris finished tied for 6th, and rode the momentum to special temporary status on the PGA Tour with three more top-20 finishes on the big tour in the next month.

He made 12 consecutive cuts with consistently strong performances to move into the top 50 and earn one of the last three spots into the Masters Tournament.

Now he’s got a chance to win the green jacket on Sunday.

“I think it's just over the last year and a half, the fact that I'm here after not having status on the Korn Ferry Tour, then working all last year to get my card and then COVID hits and you've got four months off, and I still found a way to make my way out to the PGA Tour and to be here, so it's really cool,” Zalatoris said.

“If you would have told me I was going to be here a year ago sitting in the middle of COVID … obviously, every player thinks they can accomplish anything they put their mind to, but at the same time it's pretty cool.

“I was joking about it with Caitlin, my girlfriend, that this beats playing Monday qualifiers in Evansville, Indiana, for the Korn Ferry. … Going from Monday qualifiers and shooting 67 and going home to now being able to come out here and play. It's a lot of gratitude.” 

The world needs to get used to seeing him. Zalatoris has always had the pedigree for this stage. He was the 2014 US Junior Amateur champion and a Walker Cup teammate of Collin Morikawa and Cameron Champ in 2017. He grew up in Texas playing golf with Lanny Wadkins’ kids and used to soak up advice from the fellow former Wake Forest Deacon and major champion about his favorite tournament – the Masters.

Zalatoris’ recall of everything he’s seen and heard about Augusta through the years from Wadkins, mixed with a few trips to play the course with his college team, have led him to play the course like an experienced veteran this week.

“(Lanny) talking about little things like the wind on 12, he told me that when I was 14 and I still remember it,” Zalatoris said. “I don't watch a ton of golf, but this one you sit down and you watch as much golf as you possibly can, so there's certain things that you remember. I've always watched guys to the back left pin on 10, every single person misses that putt left. I've been watching this tournament for as long as I can remember.” 

On Saturday, Zalatoris was in the final pairing with Justin Rose. He’s fearless enough to know that he wanted to be in that same spot with Hideki Matsuyama on Sunday.

“I knew that putt was going to put me in the last group,” he said of the birdie miss that instead has him playing two groups ahead of the leader. “It would have been a big advantage, obviously, turning four shots into three shots, but I wanted to be in that last group. Obviously, I won't be there. But four shots back, a lot of great players are right there with me. Keep doing what we're doing, hit some wedge shots a little bit tighter, and run the tables.” 

This isn’t some parlour trick Zalatoris is trying to pull off. His game is legit. He might not be as familiar with everything as the veterans he’s competing against today, but he’s developed all the right habits with his consistent play and progression the last two years.

“Oh, man, everything's been so new and shiny,” he said. “I think, if anything, over the past year and a half, I've had to make a lot of putts on 18 to make a cut or get into a playoff or Monday qualify, and the fact that I've done that very consistently over the past year and a half, I think is what's really led me to be tied for second going into Sunday at the Masters.” 

No Masters rookie has won a green jacket since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.

Will Zoellertoris?

“I thought I might have been a little bit more nervous than I was, to be honest,” Zalatoris said. “I think it's just something that I've wanted to be here my entire career, and like I said, I'm not going to shy away from it. I've wanted to do this. I've wanted to put on a green jacket my entire career, and I've got a good opportunity to do it. So let's go do it.”