AUGUSTA, Ga. — Two players withdrew Thursday from the 2023 Masters.
Will Zalatoris won’t play “due to injury,” according to the Masters. He did not start his first round at Augusta National Golf Club.
Meanwhile, Kevin Na withdrew earlier Thursday — “due to illness” — after finishing nine holes.
Zalatoris, a Wake Forest alum, participated in practice rounds and in Wednesday’s Par 3 contest. He was scheduled to tee off at 1:24 p.m. Thursday along with Collin Morikawa and Matthew Fitzpatrick.
Zalatoris, 26, was set to make his third Masters appearance, and he’s had success here. He was the tournament’s runner-up to Hideki Matsuyama in 2021 and finished T6 in 2022. At 35-1 odds to win, CBS Sports considered him a sleeper to take the green jacket this year.
He’s been recovering from a back injury that dates back to last Augusta. He addressed it with reporters earlier this week.
“So I had two herniated disks, and ... the genesis of it was actually bad right ankle mobility,” Zalatoris said Tuesday. “Because of me not pushing off my right side soon enough and being a very kind of dynamic player with some side bend, my right hip got high and tilt back.”
Zalatoris was ranked 98th in the FexEx Cup point standings coming into the week. He’s played in seven events this season with six cuts made and one top-10 finish.
Zalatoris said he heard from his doctor ahead of this week’s tournament.
“My back doctor texted me this morning and he said, ‘Hey, enjoy this week because this was the goal of coming back was to be back here, and you’ve played seven events. You’re way ahead of schedule.’ ... If you asked me in October, this was probably 50-50 me playing here, and the fact I played seven events showed that I did the right things. I’ve had no pain over the last month.”
Na, 39, was 4-over par when he withdrew Thursday. He was playing in his 12th Masters. His best finish in Augusta was T12, which he’s done three times.
