After firing a second-consecutive round of 69 on Friday in Maui, Zalatoris was asked about the blossoming friendship between Spieth and Kim, and Zalatoris said that Kim recently joined Dallas National, a Texas club where Zalatoris is a member. Zalatoris said he wrote Kim a letter of recommendation.
“They said, Well, you know, what’s he like?” Zalatrois said. “And I said, Well, this pretty much sums it up. When I went and watched the first day of the Presidents Cup, it was like the fourth hole. I was trying to stay out of everybody’s way, even though I was inside the ropes, and K.H. Lee was hitting a shot, and Tom came 40 yards off the tee to come over and say hi and check in on me, and I’m like, Dude, you’re playing in the Presidents Cup. You don’t need to say hi to me.
“So that pretty much sums him up,” Zalatoris continued. “He’s so good for us. He’s such a great dude, and I look forward to playing some games with him at home.”
So what else did Zalatoris include in his letter?
“Literally, it was like two sentences,” Zalatoris said. “Like, he needs to be here. He’s the best. We need to have him.
“Like I said, he’s so fun to be around. He’s a guy that I feel like I’ve known forever.”
Zalatoris said he and Kim have yet to play together, but now that they share the same home course, rounds are definitely in the future.
“Obviously the guy rolls the crap out of it,” Zalatoris said. “What he did at Wyndham, I think he, what did he shoot, like 27, 28 on the front and made like 150 feet of putts. We saw it at the Presidents Cup too. So the guy’s got no flaws. That’s for sure.”
As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everyone on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the office, too, where she’s primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Issue, which debuted in February 2018. Her original interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in both in the magazine and in video form on GOLF.com.