is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

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 wi ...

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 The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolli ...

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 th ...

, 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 go ...

in 2011.

Biography

Ozaki was born in Kaifu District, Tokushima. 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 tea ...

pitcher/outfielder from 1965 to 1967 with the

Nishitetsu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Rail ...

, but he turned to professional golf at the age of 23 and won the

Japan PGA Championship The is a professional golf tournament on the Japan Golf Tour, and is one of the tour's four major championships. It was founded in 1926, making it one of the oldest professional tournaments in Japan, and is played at a variety of courses througho ...

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 maj ...

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 n ...

. Ozaki played on the International Team in the 1996

Presidents Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

. Ozaki built "AON Age" with his rivals

Isao Aoki is a Japanese professional golfer. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004. Career Aoki was born in Abiko, Chiba, Japan. He was introduced to golf while caddying at the Abiko Golf Club as a schoolboy. He turned professional in 196 ...

and Tsuneyuki "Tommy" Nakajima. 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 The Asia Golf Circuit was the principal men's professional golf tour in Southeast Asia from the early 1960s through to the mid-late 1990s. The tour was founded in 1961 as the Far East Circuit. The first series of five tournaments was held in 1962 ...

Japan Golf Tour playoff record (12–9)

Other Japan wins (18)

*1971 (5)

, Nippon Series,

Golf Digest Tournament The Golf Digest Tournament was a golf tournament in Japan. It was founded in 1971 and was part of the Japan Golf Tour from 1973 to 1997. It was played in October at the Tōmei Country Club near Susono 270px, Susono with Mount Fuji is a city loc ...

, Miki Gold Cup (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 a ...

), Setouchi Series Hiroshima leg *1972 (9)

Wizard Tournament The Yomiuri Open was a professional golf tournament on the Japan Golf Tour. Founded in 1970 as the Wizard Tournament, a 36-hole invitational tournament, it was played at Hashimoto Country Club in Wakayama until 1979 when it moved to Yomiuri Count ...

, Sapporo Open,

Kanto Open The Kanto Open was a professional golf tournament in Japan. It was founded in 1950 and was last played in 1999. It was an event on the Japan Golf Tour from 1973 to 1991. It was played in September at a variety of courses in the Kantō region. Winne ...

, All Nippon Doubles, Nippon Series, Grand Monarch Tournament,

First Flight Tournament The First Flight Tournament was a professional golf tournament in Japan. Founded in 1972, it was an event on the Japan Golf Tour in its inaugural season in 1973. It was held at the Fuji Heigen Golf Club near Gotemba, Shizuoka Shizuoka can refer t ...

, Chiba Open, Asahi International *1976 Chiba Open *1984 Kanagawa Open *1985 Kanagawa Open *1992 Sanko Grand Summer Tournament

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 United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Four Tours World Championship The Four Tours World Championship was an annual professional golf tournament that was played from 1985 to 1991. It was played between teams representing the four main professional tours: the American PGA Tour, the PGA European Tour, the PGA Tour of ...

: (representing Japan) 1986 (winners), 1987, 1989 *

(International team):

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

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