Will Zalatoris, the golfer who best embodies the American dream in the last five years, finally lifted a trophy on the PGA Tour by winning the St. Jude Championship in Memphis, beating Australian Sepp Straka on the third playoff that he played this season, after having lost two.
The Californian was helped by fortune because his iron to the green of 11, the third section of the tie, seemed to be headed for water when the ball stopped after giving two bounces on the retaining wall before the abyss.
Zalatoris, a stem of 1.88, debuted after overcoming the blow that the European golfer took from him and he resounding last day of J. Spaun, 78 strokes, on the last day, which condemned him to position 42 after having gone to bed on Saturday as leader.
The champion began the final day with three consecutive birdies and added two more in the second nine hoes, and a bogey on hole 7, to seal a victory that puts him at the head of the FedEx Cup and places him among the top 10 in the ranking world. “We have been close and to see that it finally paid off has been incredible” said Zalatoris, who was making his first caddy in this tournament, a circumstance that led him to prevent him from reading the putts on the first day until they god to know each other better.
While Cameron Smith, who could have been number 1 in the world in case of victory, collapsed after receiving two penalty strokes for an incorrect action on the third day- the coincidence that he will leave the PGA Tour-, Jon Rahm finished fifth, after 66 hits, in a happy day for the Spaniard. It was a tie with purple, as Adam Scott, Colin Morikawa, Toni Finau, Matt Fitzpatrick also reached 11 under.
This time Jon found play on the greens and managed a fifth place that puts him in a good position to face this week´s second playoff of the FedEx Cup.
Jorge Barbero
