Japan’s most successful professional golfer, Masashi “Jumbo” Ozaki, has died at the age of 78.
Nicknamed Jumbo because of his length off the tee, Ozaki won 94 times on the Japan Tour and topped the country’s order of merit 12 times.
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He was in the top 10 in golf rankings for nearly 200 weeks and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2011.
“While golf has long been popular in Japan, it was Ozaki who brought new vitality to the game and his emergence spawned unprecedented growth of the game in the country,” said his profile on the World Golf Hall of Fame website.
Ozaki was a professional baseball player before turning to golf and winning his first tournament in 1973 at the age of 26, his last tournament at the age of 55.
He finished in the top 10 at the Open, Masters and US Open and used to take a sushi chef with him when he played away from Japan “so that he and his entourage would feel more comfortable outside their home country.”
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Ozaki also ventured into singing and had three singles on the Japanese charts in the late 1980s.
A statement posted on the Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO) website said Ozaki’s son Tomoharu announced his father had died after being diagnosed with colon cancer about a year ago.
“The golf world has lost a truly great man,” said Yutaka Morohoshi, president of the JGTO.
“He has long ruled the world of men’s professional golf and overwhelmed others with his unparalleled strength.”
