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 battling 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.
Most Successful Golfer in JGTO History
No golfer in Japanese history has been as dominant as Ozaki. His 94 career wins are 43 more than second-place Isao Aoki, and he claimed 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. While his international wins were limited, he still made his mark globally with 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 fans with his all-or-nothing playing style and became a household name in his home country. 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 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 nearly three decades later.
Ozaki also ventured into music, releasing three singles in the late 1980s that charted in Japan, further cementing his status as a cultural icon.