Fuzzy Zoller, a two-time major champion and one of golf’s most outgoing figures whose career was tarnished by racist and insensitive jokes about Tiger Woods, has died, a longtime colleague announced. He was 74 years old.
A cause of death was not immediately available. Brian Nogle, tournament director for the Insperity Invitational in Houston, said Zoller’s daughter called him Thursday with the news.
Zoller was the last player to win the Masters in his first attempt, in a three-man playoff in 1979. At Winged Foot in 1984, he famously waved the white towel thinking he had won against Greg Norman, only to lose to Norman in an 18-hole playoff the next day.
But it was the 1997 Masters that changed his popularity.
Woods was on the verge of a turning point in the golf world with the most dominant victory in Augusta National history. Zoller had finished his round and was grabbing a drink under an oak tree by the clubhouse when he was stopped by CNN and asked for his thoughts on the 21-year-old Woods, who was en route to the most dominant victory in history at Augusta National.
“The kid drives well, he putsts well, he does everything he needs to do to win. So when he gets here, you know what you guys do? You pat him on the back, congratulate him, have fun and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year. Got it?” Zoller said.
He smiled and snapped his fingers, turning to leave and saying, “Or collard greens, or whatever they offer.”
That moment stuck with him for the rest of his career.
Zoller apologized. Woods was traveling, but it took two weeks for him to comment as the controversy escalated. Zueller later said that from that moment on, she had received death threats for years.
Writing for Golf Digest in 2008, he said it was “the worst thing I’ve ever experienced in my life.”
“If anyone wants me to feel the same hurt that I project onto others, I’m here to tell them that they’ve got their way,” Zoller wrote. “I cried so many times. I apologized so many times that the words I said in jest didn’t reflect who I was. I have hundreds of friends, including people of color, who can attest to that.
“Still, I accepted the fact that this case would never go away.”
This ruined a career filled with two prestigious major titles, eight other PGA Tour titles, and one Senior PGA Championship among two PGA Tour Champion titles.
More than winning, it was how he went about it. Although Zoller played fast, he had an easy-going approach to the game, often whistling between shots.
He made his Masters debut in 1979 and was sent into a three-way playoff after Ed Snead bogeyed him on the final three holes. Zoller hit his putter high on the second hole of the playoff and beat Snead and Tom Watson with a birdie.
“I’ve never been to heaven. Looking back on my life, I probably won’t have a chance to go to heaven,” Zoller once said. “I think winning the Masters is very close.”
Zoller went head-to-head with Norman at Winged Foot in 1984, playing in the back group and watching Norman make putt after putt. So when he saw Norman hit a 40-footer on the 18th, he assumed he was going for birdie and, in an act of sportsmanship, started waving the white towel.
Only later did he realize it was a par, and Zoller made it to take it to a playoff. Zoller defeated him by eight strokes in an 18-hole playoff (67-75). Zoller’s only regret was giving his child a towel after regulation.
“If you see a dirty white towel hanging around, would you buy it for me?” he once said.
He was born Frank Urban Zoller Jr. in New Albany, Indiana. Zoller said his father was only known as “Fuzzy” and that he was given the same name. He played at a junior college in Florida before joining the powerful Houston golf team and turning pro.
His wife Diane passed away in 2021. Zoller has three children, including his daughter Gretchen, who played with him in the PNC Championship. Zoller received the Bob Jones Award from the USGA in 1985, the organization’s highest honor for outstanding sportsmanship.
