12 April 2024 , 01:01
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Will Zalatoris has weighed in on Tiger Woods' form after their Masters practice round, despite a security guard's less-than-flattering comments.
The pair, who played the back nine together on Monday morning, showed off their skills ahead of the prestigious tournament. Woods, who has faced significant challenges since his car crash in 2021, has participated in only one full PGA Tour round this season at the Genesis Invitational before withdrawing due to illness.
Zalatoris, however, had nothing but compliments for Woods' performance, remarking: "He played great today. He outdrove me a couple times so there was some chirping going on. He looks great. He's moving as well as he can be. With everything he's gone through, it's pretty amazing to see how good he's swinging it."
This positive outlook stands in stark contrast to the observations of a Masters security guard who saw Woods practising earlier that day. The guard's blunt assessment was: "He looked like he was 48-years-old," adding, "He looked old and slow. I wouldn't bet on him."
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Despite recent injuries that have troubled Woods, Zalatoris himself is no stranger to physical setbacks, having missed last year's Masters due to a back injury similar to the one that led Woods to have surgery in 2017.
When asked if Woods had imparted any wisdom post-game, Zalatoris shared: "You know, it's kind of more of just hey, how you feeling? You feel this? You feel that? The patience game is really hard. Obviously he had gone through way more than what I had gone through."
"Having the same surgeons kind of the same team, you know, just having the conversation I guess about, hey, after this amount of time how do you feel? After this amount of time how do you feel? ".
"I saw him in October at his charity event and spent some time with him on the range there and wasn't up to hitting more than - somewhere in the irons I guess. Talked to him a little bit about my golf swing. At the time I still was having some residuals, but really after about seven months is when I felt literally 100%."
"So like I said, it's just been a lot of just understanding the process and realising that even if a doctor tells you 12 weeks, we're trying to win and compete at the highest level; it's technically longer."