After winning his fourth NBA championship, but first NBA Finals MVP, earlier this summer, Curry simply asked, “What are they going to say now?” Zalatoris, whose swing is often the talk of the golf world, shouted the same phrase after hitting one of the biggest shots of his career. The first-time Tour winner spoke after his round about his inspiration from Curry. “You know, I’m a big Warriors fan and obviously Steph, he’s a Cal club guy, he’s obviously a really big inspiration,” Zalatoris said. “I follow the Warriors like crazy and when he said that, it kind of relates to my journey so far. So being so close and then kind of a write-off here and there and then obviously finally pulling it, it was – I actually can’t believe I said that. At least it wasn’t anything worse.” Zalatoris, who turns 26 on Tuesday, has been the king of close calls early in his Tour career. Full-court standings from the FedEx St. Jude Just this season, Zalatoris has three high-profile runner-up finishes: the Farmers Insurance Open, the PGA Championship and the US Open (T-2). He lost to Justin Thomas in a playoff at the PGA and arrived in Brooklyn just a few weeks later as he fell a stroke short of forcing a playoff with Matt Fitzpatrick. Perhaps the key for the Wake Forest product was attitude as much as anything. When asked after his first win if he ever felt sorry for himself for all the calls, he simply replied “no”.
