Fuzzy Zoeller, a two-time major champion and one of golf’s most memorable personalities, 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. “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, tournament director of the Insperity Invitational in Houston, said Zoeller’s daughter called with the news.
Zoeller’s major victories came at the Masters in 1979 and the U.S. Open in 1984. He remains the last player to win the Masters in his first attempt, prevailing in a three-man playoff in 1979. At the 1984 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, he famously waved a white towel on the 18th hole amid what he thought was defeat, then beat Greg Norman in an 18-hole playoff the next day.
His style on the course — fast play, an easygoing manner and frequent whistling between shots — endeared him to many fans. Beyond his two major titles, Zoeller won eight other PGA Tour events and captured the Senior PGA Championship among his two PGA Tour Champions victories. In 1985 he received the USGA’s Bob Jones Award, the organization’s highest honor for distinguished sportsmanship.
Zoeller’s long career was also marked by a controversy that haunted him for years. At the 1997 Masters, after Tiger Woods’s dominant performance, Zoeller made a racially insensitive joke about what Woods might serve at a celebration. He later apologized; the episode prompted widespread criticism and, Zoeller said, threats that affected him deeply. Writing for Golf Digest in 2008, he called the episode “the worst thing I’ve gone through in my entire life,” saying he had apologized many times and that he had been made to feel the same hurt he had projected on others.
Born Frank Urban Zoeller Jr. in New Albany, Indiana, he inherited the nickname “Fuzzy” from his father. He played at a junior college in Florida, then joined the University of Houston golf program before turning professional. Reflecting on the Masters win, Zoeller once quipped that if heaven exists, winning Augusta was the closest he’d come to it.
Zoeller’s wife, Diane, died in 2021. He is survived by three children, including daughter Gretchen, with whom he often played in the PNC Championship.
Former President Donald Trump posted about Zoeller’s death on social media, recounting Zoeller’s major victories and saying he would be missed.
Zoeller’s quick wit and competitive success made him a vivid figure in golf for decades, a player whose highs and public mistakes were both widely remembered. He leaves a complex legacy of major triumphs, a distinctive on-course persona, and a controversy that he spent years trying to atone for.
