Fuzzy Zoeller, a two-time major champion and one of golf’s most gregarious characters has died, the PGA Tour confirmed Thursday. He was 74.
“The PGA TOUR is saddened by the passing of Fuzzy Zoeller. Fuzzy was a true original whose talent and charisma left an indelible mark on the game of golf,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement Thursday. “Fuzzy combined competitive excellence with a sense of humor that endeared him to fans and fellow players alike. We celebrate his remarkable legacy and extend our deepest condolences to his family.”
A cause of death was not immediately available. Brian Naugle, the tournament director of the Insperity Invitational in Houston, told The Associated Press that Zoeller’s daughter called him Thursday with the news.
FILE – Fuzzy Zoeller talks with patrons on the 15th tee during practice at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., Tuesday, April 5, 2005.
CHRIS O’MEARA / AP
President Trump wrote about Zoeller’s death on social media, saying he was “very sad” to hear about the golfer’s passing.
“In 1979, Fuzzy won the Masters Tournament (Only 1 of 3 to win in his first appearance!) and, in 1984, he won the U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club, and famously waved the white towel on the 18th Hole as he went on to beat Greg Norman in an 18 Hole playoff. A truly remarkable person and player, he will be missed!” Trump wrote.
Zoeller was the last player to win the Masters on his first attempt, a three-man playoff in 1979. He famously waved a white towel at Winged Foot in 1984 when he thought Greg Norman had beat him, only to defeat Norman in an 18-hole playoff the next day.
But it was the 1997 Masters that impacted his popularity, when he made a racially insensitive joke about Tiger Woods.
Zoeller had finished his round and had a drink in hand under the oak tree by the clubhouse when he was stopped by CNN and asked for his thoughts on the 21-year-old Woods on his way to the most dominant win ever at Augusta National.
“That little boy is driving well and he’s putting well. He’s doing everything it takes to win. So, you know what you guys do when he gets in here? You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not serve fried chicken next year. Got it?,” Zoeller said.
He smiled and snapped his fingers, and as he was walking away he turned and said, “Or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve.”
That moment haunted him the rest of his career.
Zoeller apologized. Woods was traveling and it took two weeks for him to comment as the controversy festered. 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 gone through in my entire life.”
“If people wanted me to feel the same hurt I projected on others, I’m here to tell you they got their way,” Zoeller wrote. “I’ve cried many times. I’ve apologized countless times for words said in jest that just aren’t a reflection of who I am. I have hundreds of friends, including people of color, who will attest to that.”
“Still, I’ve come to terms with the fact that this incident will never, ever go away,” he wrote.
It marred a career filled with two famous major titles, eight other PGA Tour titles and a Senior PGA Championship among his two PGA Tour Champions titles.
More than winning was how he went about it. Zoeller played fast and still had an easygoing nature to the way he approached the game, often whistling between shots.
He made his Masters debut in 1979 and got into a three-way playoff when Ed Sneed bogeyed the last three holes. Zoeller defeated Sneed and Tom Watson with a birdie on the second playoff hole, flinging his putter high in the air.
“I’ve never been to heaven, and thinking back on my life, I probably won’t get a chance to go,” Zoeller once said. “I guess winning the Masters is as close as I’m going to get.”
He was born Frank Urban Zoeller Jr. in New Albany, Indiana. Zoeller said his father was known only as “Fuzzy,” and he was given the same name. He played at a junior college in Florida before joining the powerful Houston golf team before turning pro.
His wife, Diane, died in 2021. Zoeller has three children, including daughter Gretchen, with whom he used to play in the PNC Championship. Zoeller was awarded the Bob Jones Award by the USGA in 1985, the organization’s highest honor given for distinguished sportsmanship.
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