Will Zalatoris was a last-minute withdrawal from the Cognizant Classic on Thursday.
The PGA Tour announced the WD on Thursday afternoon, though did not provide a reason. Golf Channel has reached out to Zalatoris’ agent and is awaiting a response. It’s unclear if Zalatoris’ decision to pull out at PGA National is related to last year’s back operation.
Zalatoris, 29, underwent disc replacement surgery shortly after withdrawing from the PGA Championship last May and missed about eight months of PGA Tour action.
Zalatoris’ injury history includes withdrawing from the 2022 BMW Championship with a back injury, which kept him sidelined until The Sentry the following season. He played just a handful of events in 2023 before pulling out of the Masters and undergoing a microdiscectomy that April. He didn’t play again until the Hero World Challenge that December, and though he logged a full season in 2024, he posted just three top-10s and has since slipped to No. 252 in the world rankings.
He called this latest recovery process much easier than his previous stints. He went eight weeks with basically no movement, then started putting, chipping and eventually being full-go by Week 16 and later returning to competition at the DP World Tour’s Nedbank Golf Challenge, where he placed solo 15th last month.
“This is the first time I would say in four years that I haven’t been able to not have any sciatica down my legs,” Zalatoris said during last month’s American Express. “… This time around I’m pushing myself in the gym harder than I ever have. I’m able to do the things that I haven’t been able to do for years.”
Competing this season on a major medical, Zalatoris has made just two starts, tying for 18th in Palm Springs before missing the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open. His priority ranking was not high enough to qualify for each of the past three tournaments, the WM Phoenix Open, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational.
Ben Silverman replaced Zalatoris in the field and will tee off at 12:13 p.m. ET alongside Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger.