is a Japanese professional

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

er. Ozaki is often known as Jumbo Ozaki (ジャンボ尾崎 ''Janbo Ozaki'') on account of his height and length off the tee. He featured in the top ten of the Official World Golf Rankings for almost 200 weeks between 1989 and 1998. He is the most successful player of all time on the

Japan Golf Tour The Japan Golf Tour ( ja, 日本ゴルフツアー機構) is a prominent golf tour. It was founded in 1973 and as of 2006 it offers the third-highest annual prize fund out of the regular (that is not for seniors) men's professional tours after ...

, having led the money list a record 12 times and won 94 tournaments, over 40 more than the second highest player. Ozaki was inducted into the

World Golf Hall of Fame The World Golf Hall of Fame is located at World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States, and it is unusual among sports halls of fame in that a single site honors both men and women. It is supported by a consortium of 26 g ...

in 2011.

Biography

Ozaki was born in

Kaifu District, Tokushima is a district located in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, the district has an estimated population of 18,863 and a population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant densi ...

. He was a professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

pitcher/outfielder from 1965 to 1967 with the Nishitetsu Lions, but he turned to professional golf at the age of 23 and won the Japan PGA Championship the following year. Ozaki led the Japan Golf Tour in earnings in 1973–74, 1977, 1988–90, 1992, and 1994–98. Ozaki finished 8th at

The Masters 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 ma ...

in 1973 and finished 6th at the U.S. Open in 1989. He competed at the Masters 19 times. He played occasionally on the

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 ...

from 1972 to 2000, in 96 tournaments, though never more than nine in one year. In these starts, his best finish was a T-4 at the 1993

Memorial Tournament The Memorial Tournament is a PGA Tour golf tournament founded in 1976 by Jack Nicklaus. It is played on a Nicklaus-designed course at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb north of Columbus. The golf course passes through a large ...

. Ozaki played on the International Team in the 1996 Presidents Cup. Ozaki built "AON Age" with his rivals Isao Aoki and

Tsuneyuki "Tommy" Nakajima Tsuneyuki "Tommy" Nakajima ( ja, 中嶋常幸; born 20 October 1954) is a Japanese professional golfer. Nakajima was born in Gunma. He turned professional in 1975. He has won 48 events on the Japan Golf Tour, ranking third on the most Japan Go ...

. Ozaki's brothers Tateo "Jet" and Naomichi "Joe" are also professional golfers and, like Masashi, have been extremely successful on the Japan Golf Tour with dozens of wins between them. Now in his seventies, he still plays on the Japan Golf Tour.

Professional wins (114)

Japan Golf Tour wins (94)

''*Note: Tournament shortened to 54 holes due to weather.''
¹Co-sanctioned by the Asia Golf Circuit Japan Golf Tour playoff record (12–9)

Other Japan wins (18)

*1971 (5) Japan PGA Championship,

Nippon Series The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, :File:2014_JS_logo.png is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series ...

, Golf Digest Tournament,

Miki Gold Cup The is a professional golf tournament on the Japan Golf Tour. It is played at the ABC Golf Club in Katō, Hyōgo, usually in October or November. It was founded in 1971 as a Japan vs. United States team match (there was also individual prize m ...

(tie with

Billy Casper William Earl Casper Jr. (June 24, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American professional golfer. He was one of the most prolific tournament winners on the PGA Tour from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. In his youth, Casper started as a caddie ...

), Setouchi Series Hiroshima leg *1972 (9) Wizard Tournament,

Sapporo Open The is a professional golf tournament on the Japan Golf Tour. Founded as the Sapporo Open, it has been sponsored by All Nippon Airways since 1973, initially as the ANA Sapporo Open. It is usually held in September each year at the Sapporo Golf ...

, Kanto Open,

All Nippon Doubles The All Japan Doubles or All Nippon Doubles was a professional golf tournament that was held in Japan from 1969 to 1973. A pairs event, it was founded by, and held at, Sapporo Kokusai Country Club in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido and was an event on the ...

, Grand Monarch Tournament, First Flight Tournament, Chiba Open, Asahi International *1976 Chiba Open *1984 Kanagawa Open *1985 Kanagawa Open *1992

Sanko Grand Summer Tournament The Sanko Grand Summer Championship was a professional golf tournament that was held in Japan during the 1990s. It was an event on the Japan Golf Tour from 1995 to 1998. It was played in August at the Sanko 72 Country Club in Takasaki, Gunma Pr ...

Other wins (2)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 5 (twice) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (three times)

Results in The Players Championship

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

Team appearances

''This list may be incomplete.'' *

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

(representing Japan):

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of President of the United States, United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom K ...

, 1988 * Four Tours World Championship: (representing Japan) 1986 (winners), 1987, 1989 * Presidents Cup (International team):

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on b ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ozaki, Masashi Japanese male golfers Japan Golf Tour golfers World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Japanese baseball players Nishitetsu Lions players Baseball people from Tokushima Prefecture 1947 births Living people