Fuzzy Zoeller, the two-time major champion and one of golf’s most gregarious figures, whose career was marred by a racially insensitive joke about Tiger Woods, has died, according to a longtime colleague. He was 74 years old.
The cause of death was not immediately available. Brian Nogle, tournament director at the Insperity Invitational in Houston, said Zoeller’s daughter called him Thursday with the news.
Zoeller was the last player to win the Masters on his first try, a three-man playoff in 1979. He waved a white towel at Winged Foot in 1984 when he thought Greg Norman had beaten him, but he defeated Norman in an 18-hole playoff the next day.
But it was the 1997 Masters tournament that changed his popularity.
Woods was on his way to a watershed moment in golf with the biggest victory in Augusta National history. Zoeller finished his round and had a drink under the oak tree next to the clubhouse when CNN stopped him and asked him his thoughts on the 21-year-old Woods on his way to the most dominant win ever at Augusta National.
“This little boy drives well and is in good shape,” Zoeller said. “He’s doing everything he can to win. So, you know what you guys do when he gets here? You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy him, and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year. Understood?”
He smiled and snapped his fingers, and as he walked away, he turned around and said, “Or collard greens or whatever they serve.”
That moment haunted him for the rest of his career.
Zoeller apologized. Woods was traveling and it took two weeks for him to comment as the controversy escalated. Zoeller later said he received death threats for years after that moment.
Writing for Golf Digest in 2008, he said it was “the worst thing I’ve ever been through in my entire life”.
“If people want me to feel the same hurt I did to others, I’m here to tell you they got what they wanted,” Zoller wrote. “I have cried many times. I have apologized countless times for words said in jest that do not reflect who I am. I have hundreds of friends, including people of color, who will attest to that.
“However, I have accepted the fact that this incident will never go away.”
It marred a career filled with two famous major titles, eight more PGA Tour titles and a PGA Senior Championship among his PGA Tour titles.
More than winning was how he did it. Zoeller played fast and still had a calm nature to the way he approached the game, often blowing whistles between shots.
He made his Masters debut in 1979 and was involved in a three-way playoff when Ed Snead bogeyed the final three holes. Zoeller beat Snead and Tom Watson with a birdie on the second playoff hole, throwing his putter high in the air.
Zoeller once said, “I’ve never been to heaven, and thinking about my life, I’ll probably never get a chance to go.” “I think winning the Masters is the closest I’ll ever get.”
Zoeller was involved in a duel with Norman at Winged Foot in 1984, playing in the back pack and watching Norman make shot after shot. So when he saw Norman make a 40-foot putt on the 18th, he assumed it was a birdie and started waving a white towel in a moment of sportsmanship.
Only later did he realize it was on par, and Zoeller equalized to force a playoff. Zoeller beat him by eight shots in the 18-hole playoff (67-75). Zoeller’s only regret was giving the towel to a child after he finished the list.
“If you happen to see a dirty white towel hanging, bring it to me, won’t you?” He once said.
Frank Urban Zoeller Jr. was born in New Albany, Indiana. Zoeller said his father was known only as “Fuzzy” and he called him the same name. He played at a small college in Florida before joining the powerhouse Houston golf team before turning pro.
His wife, Diane, died in 2021. Zoeller has three children, including daughter Gretchen, with whom he played in the PNC Championship. Zoeller was awarded the Bob Jones Award by the USGA in 1985, the organization’s highest honor for outstanding sportsmanship.
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