Frank Urban "Fuzzy" Zoeller Jr. (; born November 11, 1951) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who has won ten

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

events including two major championships. He is one of three golfers to have won the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first maj ...

in his first appearance in the event. He also won the 1984 U.S. Open, which earned him the 1985

Bob Jones Award The Bob Jones Award is the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. It is named in honor of Bobby Jones. Winners *1955 Francis Ouimet *1956 William C. Campbell *1957 Babe Za ...

Life and career

Born and raised in

New Albany, Indiana New Albany is a city in Floyd County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River, opposite Louisville, Kentucky. The population was 37,841 as of the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Floyd County. It is bounded by I-265 t ...

, Zoeller was successful golfer while at New Albany High School, finishing as the runner-up in the 1970 state high school tournament with a state record low round (67). After completing his high school career, he attended Edison Junior College in Florida, transferred to the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

, and became a professional golfer in 1973. Zoeller won both of his two majors in playoffs: the 1979 Masters at

Augusta National Golf Club Augusta National Golf Club, sometimes referred to as Augusta or the National, is a golf club in Augusta, Georgia, United States. Unlike most private clubs which operate as non-profits, Augusta National is a for-profit corporation, and it does no ...

in a three-way sudden-death playoff with

Ed Sneed Edgar Sneed Jr. (born August 6, 1944) is an American professional golfer, sportscaster and course design consultant, who played on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. Sneed was born in Roanoke, Virginia. He graduated from Ohio State University ...

and Tom Watson; and the 1984 U.S. Open at

Winged Foot Golf Club Winged Foot Golf Club is a private golf club in the northeastern United States, located in Mamaroneck, New York, a suburb northeast of New York City. The club was founded in 1921, by a group largely made up of members of The New York Athletic Cl ...

after an 18-hole playoff with

Greg Norman Gregory John Norman AO (born 10 February 1955) is an Australian entrepreneur and retired professional golfer who spent 331 weeks as world number one in the 1980s and 1990s. He won 89 professional tournaments, including 20 PGA Tour tournament ...

. In 1979, Zoeller became the first golfer since 1935 to win The Masters in his first appearance in the event. The only two other golfers to have won The Masters on their debut at Augusta were the winners of the first two Masters tournaments

Horton Smith Horton Smith (May 22, 1908 – October 15, 1963) was an American professional golfer, best known as the winner of the first and third Masters Tournaments. Tournament career Born in Springfield, Missouri, Smith turned professional in 1926 and w ...

and

Gene Sarazen Gene Sarazen (; born Eugenio Saraceni, February 27, 1902 – May 13, 1999) was an American professional golfer, one of the world's top players in the 1920s and 1930s, and the winner of seven major championships. He is one of five players (along ...

, in 1934 and 1935 respectively. It was the first sudden-death playoff at The Masters; the previous six playoffs were 18-hole rounds on Monday (except 1935, which was 36 holes). For much of his career, Zoeller was famous for waving a white towel in mock surrender from the fairway of the 72nd hole of the 1984 U.S. Open, after Greg Norman holed a long putt on the 72nd green to tie Zoeller for the tournament lead. At the end of the 18-hole playoff the next day between Norman and Zoeller (which Zoeller won by 8 strokes), Norman waved a white towel himself, returning the joke. Zoeller was voted the 1985 winner of the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the

United States Golf Association The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. Zoeller shared the 54-hole lead in the

1994 Open Championship The 1994 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 123rd Open Championship, held from 14 to 17 July at Turnberry Golf Resort, Scotland. Nick Price won the second of his three major championships and only Claret Jug, one st ...

after a 3rd round of 64, but finished the tournament in 3rd place, his best-ever finish in The Open. Zoeller missed an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th green in his 3rd round at Turnberry which would have tied the record for the best single round at The Open. He competed at the 1979, 1983 and 1985

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

s. In 2002, Zoeller joined the

Champions Tour PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many years ...

and won the

Senior PGA Championship The Senior PGA Championship, established in 1937, is the oldest of the five major championships in men's senior golf. It is administered by the Professional Golfers' Association of America and is recognized as a major championship by both PGA ...

, a senior major, that year. He also won the 2004 MasterCard Championship. Zoeller has often been jokingly critical of his colleagues on the golf course, for instance, asking "Where are the windmills and animals?" on a newly designed golf course, or heckling

Craig Stadler Craig Robert Stadler (born June 2, 1953) is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments at both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour level, including one major championship, the 1982 Masters Tournament. Early life Stadler was bo ...

, saying, "Nice clods, Stadler. Did you get those at a

Buster Brown Buster Brown is a comic-strip character created in 1902 by Richard F. Outcault. Adopted as the mascot of the Brown Shoe Company in 1904, Buster Brown, along with Mary Jane, and with his dog Tige, became well known to the United States of America ...

fire sale A fire sale is the sale of goods at extremely discounted prices. The term originated in reference to the sale of goods at a heavy discount due to fire damage. It may or may not be defined as a closeout, the final sale of goods to zero inventor ...

?" In 2009, Zoeller began selling vodka under the brand name "Fuzzy's Vodka". Starting in 2012, the brand sponsored Ed Carpenter Racing's entries in the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

Remarks about Tiger Woods

At the 1997 Masters Tournament, Zoeller made remarks, described by some sections of the media as

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

, regarding

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

. After finishing tied for 34th place with a score of 78, Zoeller, referring to the following year's Masters Champions Dinner, for which the defending champion selects the menu, said, "He's doing quite well, pretty impressive. 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." Zoeller then smiled, snapped his fingers, and walked away before turning and adding, "or

collard greens Collard is a group of certain loose-leafed cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', the same species as many common vegetables including cabbage ( Capitata group) and broccoli ( Italica group). Collard is a member of the Viridis group of ''Brassica ...

or whatever the hell they serve."

K-Mart Kmart Corporation ( , doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) is an American retail company that owns a chain of big box department stores. The company is headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States. The company was inco ...

and Dunlop ceased sponsoring Zoeller after the incident. "I know Fuzzy, and it was obvious to me that he was attempting to be funny," fellow golf professional

Tom Lehman Thomas Edward Lehman (born March 7, 1959) is an American professional golfer. A former number 1 ranked golfer, his tournament wins include one major title, the 1996 Open Championship; and he is the only golfer in history to have been awarded th ...

said. "He probably would have said the same thing to Tiger's face and they both would have yukked it up... utit wasn't the best timing, and it wasn't in good taste. It's not appropriate." "I've been on the tour for 23 years and anybody who knows me knows that I am a jokester," Zoeller said. "It's too bad that something I said in jest was turned into something it's not. But I didn't mean anything by it and I'm sorry if I offend anybody. If Tiger is offended by it, I apologize to him, too. I have nothing but the utmost respect for Tiger as a person and an athlete." Zoeller later offered an apology directly to Woods, which Woods accepted.

Defamation lawsuit

On February 13, 2007, Zoeller sued Josef Silny & Associates, a foreign-credential evaluation firm based in Miami, Florida. The lawsuit alleged that

defamatory Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

statements appeared in the Wikipedia article about Zoeller in December 2006, originating from a computer at that firm. According to the suit, the edits suggested Zoeller had committed acts including alcohol, drug and

domestic abuse Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner v ...

. Defendant Josef Silny said a computer consultant would investigate. However, Zoeller dropped the lawsuit in December 2007 after being unsuccessful in finding the poster. Zoeller was unable to sue Wikipedia for the statements due to protections accorded to providers of "interactive computer services" under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Amateur wins (3)

*1972 Florida State Junior College Championship (individual) *1973 Old Capital Invitational (Indiana) *1973 Indiana State Amateur

Professional wins (19)

PGA Tour wins (10)

''*Note: The 1986 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am was shortened to 54 holes due to weather.'' PGA Tour playoff record (2–2)

Other wins (4)

*1985

Skins Game A skins game is a type of scoring for various sports. It has its origins in golf but has been adapted for disc golf, curling and bowling. Golf In golf, a skins event has players compete for prize money on each individual hole. Skins Game, PGA T ...

*1986

*1987 Merrill Lynch Shoot-Out Championship *2003 Tylenol Par-3 Shootout

Champions Tour wins (2)

Other senior wins (3)

*2002 Senior Slam *2008

Wendy's Champions Skins Game The Wendy's Champions Skins Game was an unofficial golf tournament on the Champions Tour. It was played annually in January/February in Maui, Hawaii at Kaanapali Golf Resort (Royal Kaanapali Golf Course). Wendy's was the main sponsor of the tournam ...

(with

Peter Jacobsen Peter Erling Jacobsen (born March 4, 1954) is an American professional golfer and commentator on Golf Channel and NBC. He has played on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. He has won seven events on the PGA Tour and two events on the Champion ...

) *2009 Wendy's Champions Skins Game (with

Ben Crenshaw Ben Daniel Crenshaw (born January 11, 1952) is a retired American professional golfer who has won 19 events on the PGA Tour, including two major championships: the Masters Tournament in 1984 and 1995. He is nicknamed ''Gentle Ben''. Professiona ...

)

Major championships

Wins (2)

¹Defeated Sneed and Watson in a sudden-death playoff - Zoeller 4-3 (−1), Sneed 4-4 (E) and Watson 4-4 (E).
²Defeated Norman in an 18-hole playoff - Zoeller 67 (–3), Norman 75 (+5).

Results timeline

CUT = missed the halfway cut (3rd round cut in 1979 Open Championship)
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 8 (1993 Masters – 1994 PGA) *Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (twice)

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Champions Tour major championships

Wins (1)

U.S. national team appearances

Professional *

: 1979 (winners),

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

(winners),

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge The Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge was an unofficial golf event held in November at the Rio Secco Golf Club in Henderson, Nevada. The tournament was a unique stroke play event, and, as the name suggests, pitted three teams, with three members per team, ...

(representing Senior PGA Tour): 2001

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zoeller, Fuzzy American male golfers Houston Cougars men's golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Winners of men's major golf championships Winners of senior major golf championships Ryder Cup competitors for the United States Golfers from Indiana People from New Albany, Indiana New Albany High School (Indiana) alumni 1951 births Living people