{"id":369282,"date":"2025-12-24T17:49:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T17:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/369282\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T17:49:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T17:49:11","slug":"golf-legend-and-hall-of-famer-masashi-jumbo-ozaki-dies-from-sigmoid-colon-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/369282\/","title":{"rendered":"Golf legend and Hall of Famer Masashi &#8216;Jumbo&#8217; Ozaki dies from sigmoid colon cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Japanese golf icon Masashi \u2018Jumbo\u2019 Ozaki has passed away at the age of 78, marking the loss of one of the most influential figures in the sport\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p>Ozaki died from sigmoid colon cancer.<\/p>\n<p>Ozaki, Japan\u2019s most successful professional golfer, remains the winningest player in Japan Golf Tour history with a remarkable 94 victories and 12 Order of Merit titles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Renowned for his power off the tee, he earned the nickname \u2018Jumbo\u2019 and spent nearly 200 weeks inside the world\u2019s top 10 during his career.<\/p>\n<p>Ozaki was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2011, with his profile noting: &#8220;While golf has long been popular in Japan, it was Ozaki who brought a new vitality to the game and his emergence spawned an unprecedented growth in the game in the country.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Before turning to golf, Ozaki was a professional baseball player.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He claimed his first tournament victory in 1973 at the age of 26 and continued winning into his mid-50s, securing his final title aged 55.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Internationally, he recorded top-10 finishes at The Open Championship, The Masters and the US Open.<\/p>\n<p>Ozaki&#8217;s best major performance was a tie for sixth at the 1989 US Open at Oak Hill.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Japan Golf Tour has labelled Ozaki as a &#8220;one of a kind figure.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Japanese golf legend, Masashi \u201cJumbo\u201d Ozaki, died yesterday from sigmoid colon cancer at the age of 78. Jumbo won 114 times worldwide, including a record 94 victories on the Japan Golf Tour. He rose to 5th in the world in 1996, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DYPoC2Vq6t\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/DYPoC2Vq6t<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wSU6M61gVt\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/wSU6M61gVt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/flushingitgolf\/status\/2003668061031686543?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">December 24, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Known for his larger-than-life personality, Ozaki famously travelled with a sushi chef when competing overseas &#8220;so that he and his entourage would feel more at home outside of their homeland&#8221;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Away from the course, he also enjoyed success as a singer, releasing three singles that reached the Japanese charts in the late 1980s.<\/p>\n<p>The Japan Golf Tour Organisation confirmed that Ozaki\u2019s son, Tomoharu, announced his father had died after being diagnosed with colon cancer approximately a year ago.<\/p>\n<p>JGTO chairman Yutaka Morohoshi paid tribute, saying: &#8220;The golf world has lost a truly great man.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>He added: &#8220;He long steered the men&#8217;s professional golf world and overwhelmed others with his unparalleled strength.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ozaki\u2019s impact on Japanese golf extends far beyond his trophies, and he will be fondly remembered as a pioneer who reshaped the sport in his homeland.<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to our Newsletter<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japanese golf icon Masashi \u2018Jumbo\u2019 Ozaki has passed away at the age of 78, marking the loss of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-369282","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}