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 win outside Japan came in 1972 at the New Zealand PGA Championship.
JGTO’s Most Successful Golfer
No golfer in Japanese history has matched Ozaki’s dominance. His 94 JGTO victories are 43 more than second-place Isao Aoki, and he won the tour’s Order of Merit a record 12 times. 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 international wins were rare, 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 1.81-meter, 90kg frame and massive drives, Ozaki thrilled Japanese crowds 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 before switching to golf at age 23. He won his first JGTO event in 1973 at age 26 and continued winning until age 55, claiming his final 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.