Japanese golf icon Masashi ‘Jumbo’ Ozaki has died at the age of 78. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2011.
Masashi ‘Jumbo’ Ozaki passed away on Tuesday at the age of 78 due to colon cancer. Ozaki won a record 94 tournaments on the Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO), including five Japan Opens and six Japan PGA Championships. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2011. His only victory outside Japan came at the 1972 New Zealand PGA Championship.
JGTO’s Most Successful Golfer
No golfer in Japanese history has matched Ozaki’s dominance. His 94 JGTO wins are 43 more than second-place Isao Aoki. He also claimed the tour’s Order of Merit 12 times, another record. Thanks to his domestic success, Ozaki spent 200 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking and played a key role in popularizing golf in Japan. While his international wins were limited, he still posted top-10 finishes at the 1973 Masters, 1989 U.S. Open, and 1979 Open Championship.
A Unique Life On and Off the Course
Nicknamed ‘Jumbo’ for his 1.81m, 90kg frame and powerful drives, Ozaki thrilled Japanese crowds with his all-or-nothing playing style and became a household name. His path to golf was unconventional: originally a promising baseball player, he won a national high school championship and played professionally for three years before switching to golf at age 23. He won his first JGTO event in 1973 at age 26 and continued winning until age 55, capturing his final title 29 years later.
Ozaki also ventured into music in the late 1980s, releasing three singles that all charted in Japan, further cementing his celebrity status in his home country.