Frank Urban Zoeller Jr, forever shortened to “Fuzzy”, was once asked how he would like to be remembered. “I don’t want to be,” he replied. “What for? Just enjoy the game.”
Now that he has died, aged 74, the memories have been flowing. As his name was shortened, so too a life is often reduced to brief moments, from the sporting highs of his two major victories to the racist remark about Tiger Woods that haunted him for decades.
On the course, one of his feats is reheated every year. In 1979, he won the Masters at his first attempt. Nobody had done this since Gene Sarazen in 1935, when the event was in its infancy. And nobody has done it since.
Zoeller, right, beat Norman in a play-off to win the US Open at Winged Foot in 1984
AP
Zoeller, 27 at the time, did it with some drama too, beating Tom Watson and Ed Sneed in the tournament’s first sudden-death play-off. He had trailed Sneed by six shots going into the final round but drew level and won on the second extra hole. “All the pressure was on other people,” he said. “They were the ones who said I couldn’t win.”
Years later, he added: “It was my first Masters, and my only goal was to play well enough to come back the next year. With that in the bag, the play-off was pure gravy.”
Three wins and five years later, he won the US Open at Winged Foot in another play-off. Zoeller waved his white towel in surrender on the 18th when he thought Greg Norman had made a winning birdie. It was, in fact, a par and they went to a play-off that Zoeller dominated, beating Norman by eight shots over 18 holes. Known for interacting with crowds, he gave the famous towel away to a young spectator, once quipping that it was “dirty and cruddy and probably had a cure for some virus on it”.
Zoeller received hate mail for several years after his racist remark about Woods
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Zoeller’s brisk play and approachable nature endeared him to galleries, and he had his last PGA Tour win two years later, although he was third at the Open Championship in 1994 at the age of 42. However, he had been thrust back into the ugly spotlight in 1997 with the line he could never escape from.
Woods was then the nascent sensation on his way to his first major triumph at the Masters. Zoeller was standing under the old oak tree by the clubhouse at Augusta, drink in hand, when CNN asked for his thoughts on the precocious 21-year-old. A 20-second reference to the Champions Dinner would taint his reputation. “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 to serve fried chicken next year. Got it?” As he walked away, he turned and added: “Or collard greens, or whatever the hell they serve.”
He apologised and, in the void before Woods responded, the die was cast. Woods did release a statement accepting Zoeller’s apology, but in a 2008 first-person piece in Golf Digest, Zoeller admitted his wife and children had received death threats and he was still receiving hate mail.
Zoeller had been a popular player on the PGA Tour
CHARLIE NEIBERGALL/AP
“If people wanted me to feel the same hurt I projected on others, I’m here to tell you they got their way,” he said. “I’ve cried many times. I’ve apologised countless times for words said in jest that just aren’t a reflection of who I am. Still, I’ve come to terms with the fact that this incident will never, ever go away.”
In 2002 Zoeller won the Senior PGA Championship, and his career CV includes ten PGA Tour wins and three Ryder Cup appearances, winning in 1979 and 1983. His wife, Diane, died in 2021 and they are survived by three children. President Trump was among those to pay tribute, hailing him as “a truly remarkable” person.
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He was also a good friend to many, not least John Daly. In 1997, after a night of drinking and falling at the Players Championship, the troubled star ended up in the back of an ambulance. Zoeller saw him as he was being wheeled towards it and asked if he was all right, to which Daly replied: “Why don’t you grab that cop’s gun and just f***ing kill me?” Zoeller went to hospital with Daly and would be a cornerstone of his recovery.
On Thursday, Daly posted a photograph of the pair with the message: “To a best friend and a father figure who helped me a ton in my life. I’ll miss you beyond words.” Whether he wanted it or not, Fuzzy Zoeller will be long remembered.