On Sunday, Zalatoris won the St. Jude Championship after winning a dramatic three-hole playoff over Sepp Straka.
Zalatoris made $2.7 million for winning in Memphis, launching him to third place ($9.4M) in season winnings behind Scottie Scheffler ($13.2M) and Cameron Smith ($10.1M) — who notably announced he was leaving for LIV Golf last week.
The victory also shot Zalatoris to the top of the FedEx Cup standings with two events remaining. If the 25–year-old can hold on to first place through those tournaments, he stands to make $18 million at the Tour Championship, which begins Aug. 25.
It’s the culmination of several close calls for the young golfer: Zalatoris burst onto the scene by finishing runner-up at the 2021 Masters, and followed it up with second-place finishes at the PGA Championship and U.S. Open this season.
“It’s hard to say, ‘About time,’ when it’s your second year on tour, but it’s about time,” Zalatoris said after the win. “Considering all those close finishes, it means a lot.”
In April, Zalatoris told Front Office Sports that his primary goal this season was to win his first event — major or otherwise.
One of the factors in his victory could have been a change in caddie: This was Joel Stock’s first tournament on Zalatoris’ bag — and he came away with $270,000 in his first week.
