Jim O'Donnell: Illini links to young Masters ace Zalatoris run orange, blue and true
DURING THE CBS COVERAGE of the final round of The Masters Sunday, Jim Nantz and Sir Nick Faldo made one thing redundantly clear: Hideki Matsuyama was carrying "the weight of a nation" on the back of his clubs.
That imagined weight held to the wire as Matsuyama became the first Japanese national to win the event.
He barely made it, bogeying three of the final four holes and finishing a single stroke ahead of remarkably unflappable 24-year-old Will Zalatoris.
While much was made of the international implications of Matsuyama's victory, nothing was made of Zalatoris's pedigreed links to the suburbs of Chicago and the University of Illinois.
His father, Rick Zalatoris, is a 1976 graduate of the U. of I. who long ago began carving out a successful career in commercial real estate in the San Francisco Bay Area.
He relocated his family to suburban Dallas close to 10 years ago, where young Zalatoris became a frequent junior golf partner of Jordan Spieth, playing out of the top-end Bent Tree Country Club.
Also boasting diplomas from Illinois are Uncle Mark Zalatoris of Glenview (Class of '79), a banking and financial services executive, and Uncle Paul Zalatoris of Southwest suburban Clarendon Hills (Class of '83).
Uncle Paul parlayed solid career segments with Wilson Sporting Goods and other athletics-oriented firms into a Lombard-based golf specialty company.
The three brothers grew up in La Grange Park. None lettered in golf at Illinois.
A deep clue about where young Will gets the ice water in his clubs comes from his late grandfather, the first Will Zalatoris.
By age 21, during World War II, Capt. Zalatoris was one of the "hump boys," flying military transports for the Army Air Corps in the treacherous skyways above China, Burma and India.
After the war, Capt. Zalatoris graduated from Northwestern and married his teenage sweetheart Margaret, who he met while boating on Channel Lake in North suburban Antioch Township in 1938.
Mrs. Zalatoris was an Illinois grad, setting the preferred collegiate pathway for her three sons.
Her husband became a pilot for American Airlines, initially flying DC-4s out of Midway Airport in 1953.
Later, he advanced as the commercial jet age began. He spent the final 11 years of his 30-year run with American commanding 747s, primarily on the loop between O'Hare and Honolulu.
Capt. Zalatoris died at age 89 in 2012. His wife, 92, followed five years later.
As for father Rick, during his four years in Champaign (1972-76), he was a member of the brawny Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.
Among his frat mates were an array of local prep stars including Fighting Illini pitchers Randy Cordova (Prospect High) and Rick Peekel (Fremd), All-Big Ten shortstop Dave Lundstedt of Arlington Heights and Prospect-spawned basketball twirler Dave "Duker" Timson.
It was two other regional ATOs - Bob Cavoto and Dane Luhrsen - who first got word out Friday night that one of their legacied own was tearing it down at Augusta, tweeting:
"Will Zalatoris, currently tied for fifth in The Masters, is the son of our own Rick 'Zal' Zalatoris. Awesome! Go Will!!!"
Go Will did, putting on a four-day display of steel-willed azalea focus that in many respects was probably more impressive than that of the veteran Matsuyama.
Less than two years ago, Zalatoris was ranked No. 2,004 in the world. He entered The Masters at No. 42, in large part due to a tie for sixth at the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot.
In the wake of his sensational weekend, Zalatoris credited the pandemic-forced break from weekly qualifying on the Korn Ferry satellite tour last year as critical to his quiet mind.
"I got back to playing the game just for fun and not worrying about driving ranges," he told media.
"We had a group of four that included Tony Romo and we just went out and played money rounds as often as we could. There's no question that freshened my outlook."
In the end, Matsuyama cashed for $2,070,000 and the weighty green jacket.
Zalatoris - 6-foot-2 and 165 pounds - walked away with $1,242,000, the beginning of public awareness of a brand-notable blond shock of hair and a future that seems inestimable.
And for the cosmically conscious, he was born on August 16, 1996.
That was the same month that Tiger Woods made his PGA debut in The Greater Milwaukee Open.
He finished tied for 60th and made $2,544.00.
Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.