Watch: Zalatoris’ ace wins Genesis vehicle for both he and caddie

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – There’s a reason Will Zalatoris’ caddie was even more ecstatic than Zalatoris when the latter made a hole-in-one Friday at the Genesis Invitational.

He’s taking home a new car, too.

Zalatoris’ 7-iron into the 180-yard 14th landed perfectly on the fringe, kicked left and rolled into the cup for an ace that was the exclamation point on a wild round of 1-under 70.

The “1” touched off a wild celebration, with Zalatoris bounding into the open arms of his caddie, Joel Stock.

Zalatoris was understandably excited – it was the 10th ace of his career, and his first in competition since 2020. “That’s definitely the most fun one, for sure,” he said. But Stock was even more enthused: He’ll soon be keeping his Chevy Tahoe in the garage and driving around in a new luxury vehicle.

With Genesis as the title sponsor, Zalatoris and Stock will both walk away with new rides: Zalatoris the GV80, which retails for about $60,000, while Stock gets the Electrified GV70 that goes for slightly more.

“That was kind of a fun bonus,” Stock said.

Zalatoris, who is at 6-under 136, is rounding into form after a series of back injuries stalled his promising career. He started seeing some better shot shapes and trajectories earlier this week during a practice round at Riviera, holing out his approach for eagle on No. 3.

Zalatoris said he went through a stretch in 2020 when he made five holes-in-one but hadn’t recorded one since. After that practice-round eagle, Stock joked with him: “The lid’s off now.”

“I guess it was,” Zalatoris said.