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 after a battle with 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 win outside 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. His 94 career wins are 43 more than the next closest player, Isao Aoki. He also topped the JGTO Order of Merit a record twelve times. Thanks to his domestic success, Ozaki spent a total of 200 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking and played a key role in popularizing golf in Japan. While international victories were rare, he still posted top-10 finishes at the 1973 Masters, the 1989 U.S. Open, and the 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 fans with his all-or-nothing playing style and became a household name in Japan. His path to golf was unconventional—originally a promising baseball talent, he won a national high school title and played professionally for three years before switching to golf at age 23. He claimed his first JGTO title in 1973 at age 26 and continued winning until age 55, capturing his final title nearly three decades later.
Ozaki also ventured into music in the late 1980s, releasing three singles that all charted in Japan, further cementing his status as a pop culture icon.