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 professional win outside Japan came in 1972 at the New Zealand PGA Championship.
Most Successful Golfer in JGTO History
No golfer in Japanese history has matched the dominance of Ozaki. His 94 JGTO victories are 43 more than second-place Isao Aoki. He also won the JGTO Order of Merit a record 12 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 his international wins were limited, he still posted top-10 finishes at the Masters in 1973, the U.S. Open in 1989, and The Open Championship in 1979.
A Unique Life On and Off the Course
Nicknamed ‘Jumbo’ for his 1.81-meter, 90-kilogram frame and powerful drives, Ozaki thrilled Japanese fans with his all-or-nothing playing style and became a household name. His path to golf was unconventional—he was a promising baseball player 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, claiming his final JGTO title 29 years later.
Leveraging his fame, Ozaki also launched a music career in the late 1980s, releasing three singles that all charted in Japan.