Golf is in mourning. Japanese legend Masashi ‘Jumbo’ Ozaki has died at the age of 78. His name is written in gold letters in Japanese sport. His figure did not go unnoticed when he was seen in action. His colorful clothing made him unique on the course. Almost with the same need to have a caddie, he was accompanied by his own chef, an expert in sushi, every time he played outside Japan.
Ozaki switched to golf at the age of 23. Before that, he had excelled in baseball. As a pitcher, he led his high school to the national championship before turning professional for three years. In 1970, he switched from leather ball to golf ball. In 1973, he won the first of his 94 Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO) tournaments. No Japanese player has won as much. He would go on to win 113 times, but almost all of them in Japan, although he also lifted the New Zealand PGA Championship trophy.
His strong hitting earned him the nickname ‘Jumbo’.He participated in more than 80 PGA Tour events, including the 1996 Presidents Cup. Among his best results were several Top 10 finishes in the 49 majors he played: eighth in the 1973 Masters, sixth in the 1989 US Open and 10th in the 1979 British Open. He spent close to 200 weeks in the top 10 of the World Rankings. A friend of Severiano Ballesteros,he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011. For many, Ozaki was to Japanese golf what Arnold Palmer is to American golf.
“He led men’s professional golf for a long time, constantly staying at the forefront with his game, and his overwhelming strength. An unparalleled player, he showed no signs of decline. I’ve never seen a professional golfer with such unwavering strength,” recalls Yutaka Morohoshi, president of the JGTO and a classmate of Ozaki’s.
His records in Japan are unmatched: he was the leading money winner 12 times, five of them in a row (between 1994 and 1998), won at least one tournament for 15 consecutive years, won a tournament at 55 years and 241 days (three years older than Sam Snead’s PGA Tour record of 52) and signed a card of 62 strokes at the age of 66.
A collector of classic cars, wine and musical instruments, he also ventured into the world of song: three of his singles entered the pop charts in Japan in the late 1980s.
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