2022 Charles Schwab Challenge: Top 10 power rankings at Colonial

Will Zalatoris has been on the cusp of not only winning his first PGA Tour title, but doing so at a major championship.

The 25-year-old already owns five top-10s in eight starts, including his closest call to date last week at the PGA Championship.

Zalatoris posted 66-65 to take the 36-hole lead and was in the final group on Sunday after a third-round 73 in tough conditions. He followed with a 71 on another blustery day at Southern Hills to outlast playing partner, Mito Pereira, and get into a playoff with Justin Thomas.

Outside of a poor tee shot on the second playoff hole that kept him from attacking for birdie, he played solid in the extra holes at 1-under. Thomas was just a little sharper to win it at a shot better.

Zalatoris is halfway to the Louis Oosthuizen Slam of finishing runner-up at every major. Big Z was solo second at the 2021 Masters.

“Pretty proud of the result that I had. I think yesterday was really the day that looking back on it, I was pretty frustrated with,” Zalatoris was transcribed on Sunday by ASAP Sports. “The first nines holes I thought was a really good experience, especially going forward. Especially after missing the cut last week, I’m obviously pretty proud to be sitting in this position considering Saturday, never thought I would have been standing here.”

Zalatoris is a Dallas/Fort Worth area resident, so it was a bummer for him to MC in his PGA Championship tune-up at the AT&T Byron Nelson. Fortunately, he gets another chance to shine in the metroplex.

The Wake Forest grad debuted at Colonial last year, taking T-59th.

I like him to turn that around based on his current form. The Byron Nelson was his only missed cut of the year.

Zalatoris is up to five top-six finishes in 2022.

That includes solo second at the Farmers Insurance Open.

He ranks first on the PGA Tour in strokes gained tee to green (1.845) and seventh in total SG (1.612). Putting’s been Zalatoris’ glaring weakness. His stroke is still anxiety-inducing, but it’s at least improving. He was 10th in the field in SG putting (4.645) for the week leading in that stat through 36 holes.

It won’t fully ease the sting of missing out on history, but snapping his PGA Tour winless streak will certainly help his psyche.