“It’s a big swing of emotions” - Will Zalatoris on injury recovery and comeback journey in the 2023 Hero World Challenge

Tiger Woods' return steals the headlines this week, but Will Zalatoris will also be returning to the courses at the 2023 Hero World Challenge after an injury-driven absence. Zalatoris' wait has been a little bit longer and his return equally emotional.

At his press conference prior to the start of the tournament, Will Zalatoris spoke to reporters about his injury and his long recovery period. Zalatoris said the first few weeks were the most difficult since he didn't know for sure how long he would be away from the sport.

This is what Will Zalatoris said (via PGA Tour news service):

"When I go from ramping up for Augusta, hurt my back on Thursday and then Saturday I'm already having surgery. It's a big swing of emotions and I think the first five, six weeks was probably the hardest."

He added about his injury:

"I would definitely say the toughest point was early on, just having no timeline, and general idea, but not a... 'you're going to be out for this amount of time before you can start chipping and putting.'

Will Zalatoris recounted the months of intense physical therapy. He added:

"I think I've really started hitting balls probably a couple of months ago. Had to spend a lot of time doing rehab, basically, six days a week. One of the most frustrating things was actually I was told I can't play more than three days in a row. I think this was at maybe month five. And I had shot like 63, 65, 64 at home. And I'm like 'the last thing I want to do is not play golf tomorrow?'."

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Will Zalatoris on how he managed his time away

For a professional athlete, it is very important to properly manage their mental state when an injury forces a pause of competitive activity. This held true for Will Zalatoris as well and he had to strategize how to manage his mental health.

"We did some kind of bucket list traveling once I was healthy enough," Zalatoris said, "just to stay busy. Going to Wimbledon, knocking off things like that. But obviously, my mind was still on golf."

He added:

"I had a goal of playing this fall, but it was just too soon in my opinion, of where I was at. A lot of the guys, especially some Champions Tour guys, they said 'look, you're 27 years old, take your time'. I think it gave me a lot of reassurance that I was going down the right path."

Will Zalatoris injured his back before the start of The Masters this season, forcing him to withdraw from the tournament. He required surgery (microdiscectomy) to correct two split discs and underwent several months of physical therapy afterward.