Fuzzy Zoeller, a two-time main champion and certainly one of golf’s most gregarious characters whose profession was tainted by a racially insensitive joke about Tiger Woods, has died, in accordance with a longtime colleague. He was 74.
A explanation for dying was not instantly accessible. Brian Naugle, the event director of the Insperity Invitational in Houston, stated Zoeller’s daughter referred to as him Thursday with the information.
Zoeller was the final participant to win the Masters on his first try, a three-man playoff in 1979. He famously waved a white towel at Winged Foot in 1984 when he thought Greg Norman had overwhelmed him, solely to defeat Norman in an 18-hole playoff the following day.
However it was the 1997 Masters that modified his reputation.
Woods was on his strategy to a watershed second in golf with essentially the most dominant victory in Augusta Nationwide historical past.
Zoeller was praising the efficiency in a CNN interview when he ended it by saying, “So, you understand what you guys do when he will get in right here? You pat him on the again and say congratulations and revel in it and inform him to not serve fried hen subsequent yr. Obtained it?”
He smiled and snapped his fingers, and as he was strolling away, he turned and stated, “Or collard greens or regardless of the hell they serve.”
That second haunted him the remainder of his profession. Zoeller wrote for Golf Digest in 2008: “I’ve cried many occasions. I’ve apologised numerous occasions for phrases stated in jest that simply aren’t a mirrored image of who I’m. I’ve a whole lot of buddies, together with individuals of color, who will attest to that. Nonetheless, I’ve come to phrases with the truth that this incident won’t ever, ever go away.”
It marred a profession full of two well-known main titles, eight different PGA Tour titles and a Senior PGA Championship amongst his two PGA Tour Champions titles.
FILE PHOTO: Zoeller gained two well-known main titles, eight PGA Tour titles and a Senior PGA Championship amongst his two PGA Tour Champions titles.
| Photograph Credit score:
THE HINDU ARCHIVES
FILE PHOTO: Zoeller gained two well-known main titles, eight PGA Tour titles and a Senior PGA Championship amongst his two PGA Tour Champions titles.
| Photograph Credit score:
THE HINDU ARCHIVES
Greater than successful was how he went about it. Zoeller performed quick and nonetheless had an easygoing nature to the way in which he approached the sport, usually whistling between pictures.
Zoeller was awarded the Bob Jones Award by the USGA in 1985, the organisation’s highest honour given for distinguished sportsmanship.
Printed on Nov 28, 2025