Japanese golf icon Masashi ‘Jumbo’ Ozaki has died at age 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 Open titles and six Japan PGA Championships. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2011. His only victory outside of Japan came in 1972 at the New Zealand PGA Championship.
JGTO’s Most Successful Golfer
No golfer in Japanese history has been as dominant as Ozaki. With 94 career wins, he leads the JGTO by a wide margin—43 more than second-place Isao Aoki. He also claimed the Japan Tour’s Order of Merit a record 12 times. His success kept him in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for a total of 200 weeks and helped popularize golf in Japan. While international wins were rare, Ozaki had strong showings at major championships, finishing in the top 10 at the 1973 Masters, 1989 U.S. Open, and 1979 Open Championship.
A Unique Life On and Off the Course
Nicknamed ‘Jumbo’ for his 1.81-meter, 90kg frame and powerful drives, Ozaki thrilled Japanese fans with his all-or-nothing playing style and became a national celebrity. His path to golf was unconventional—he was a promising baseball talent who won a national high school championship and played professionally for three years. He switched to golf at age 23 and won his first JGTO event in 1973 at age 26. He continued winning until age 55, capturing his final title 29 years later.
In the late 1980s, Ozaki leveraged his fame to launch a music career, releasing three singles that all charted in Japan.