Will Zalatoris back injury flares up, joins fellow Byron Nelson favorite to withdraw

Zalatoris and another heavy hitter withdrew from the CJ CUP Byron Nelson event, which left an very few top rated golfers.

Two of the betting favorites for the CJ CUP Byron Nelson have withdrawn. Will Zalatoris and Sungjae Im will both miss the tournament.

The field for this week’s tournament already lacked star power, but with these two pulled out, it becomes even weaker. Zalatoris came in with the third-best odds to win at 22-1 following a strong T9 performance at The Masters. Only Jordan Spieth and Jason Day had stronger odds to emerge victorious at his hometown event.

Granted, he finished T44 at RBC Heritage and missed the cut at the Zurich Classic, but with a relatively weak field, Zalatoris was one of the few stars playing.

Zalatoris was forced to pull out of the TPC Craig Ranch event due to a flare-up with his back. He was replaced by Nick Watney in the field.

The former Wake Forest Demon Deacon had surgery on his back last year and missed the remainder of the season. Zalatoris returned to the PGA Tour at the Hero World Challenge in December.

Hopefully, this is not a serious setback for the 27-year-old.

As for Im, he withdrew less than 30 minutes before his tee time on Thursday because of a sickness.

The Korean golfer defended his title at the KPGA Woori Financial Group Championship last week, marking his third victory in four starts on that circuit.

Im came into this week with 25-1 odds to win the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, just behind Zalatoris. He has made 12 starts on the PGA Tour this year and is coming off a T12 finish at the RBC Heritage. It was his best placing since The Sentry when he finished T5.

The 26-year-old is one of the favorites to compete in the Olympics this summer for Korea. Right now, Im and Tom Kim possess the two spots to make the Korean Olympic Golf Team. However, he and Byeong Hun An have flip-flopped in the Olympic Golf rankings over the last few weeks.

Losing Zalatoris and Im diminishes the CJ CUP Byron Nelson field. Spieth was the only Top 20 player in the world participating this wee.

Meanwhile, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler opted out because his wife Meredith is due any day now with their first child.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.