Fuzzy Zoeller

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Fuzzy Zoeller
Personal Information
Birth November 11, 1951 (1951-11-11) (age 56)
New Albany, Indiana, U.S.
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg)
Nationality Flag of the United States United States
College Edison Junior College (FL)
University of Houston
Career
Turned Pro 1973
Current tour Champions Tour
Professional wins 18 (PGA Tour: 10, Other: 6, Champions Tour: 2)
Best Results in Major Championships
Wins: 2
Masters Won 1979
U.S. Open Won 1984
British Open 3rd: 1994
PGA Championship 2nd: 1981
Awards
Bob Jones Award 1985

Frank Urban "Fuzzy" Zoeller, Jr. (born November 11, 1951) is an American professional golfer. He is one of three golfers to have won The Masters in his first appearance in the event. He also won the 1984 U.S. Open, which earned him the 1985 Bob Jones Award.

Contents

[edit] Life and career

Zoeller was born in New Albany, Indiana. He attended the University of Houston and became a professional golfer in 1973. He has won two major championships: the 1979 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club and the 1984 U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club.

Zoeller is one of only three golfers to have won The Masters in his first appearance in the event. The other two were the winners of the first two Masters, Horton Smith and Gene Sarazen. Zoeller was voted the 1985 Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf.

In 2002, Zoeller joined the Champions Tour and won the Senior PGA Championship, a senior major, that year. He also won the 2004 MasterCard Championship.

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Hijinks

Zoeller is often jokingly critical of his colleagues on the golf course, for instance, asking "Where are the windmills and animals?" on a newly designed golf course, or heckling Craig Stadler, saying, "Nice clods, Stadler. Did you get those at a Buster Brown fire sale?"[1] But at the 1997 Masters tournament, Zoeller made a controversial remark regarding Tiger Woods. After finishing tied for 34th place with a score of 78, Zoeller, referring to the following year's Master's Club Champion's Dinner, for which the defending champion selects the menu, said, "That little boy is driving well and he's putting well. He's doing everything it takes to win. So, you know what you guys do when he gets in here? You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year. Got it." Zoeller then smiled, snapped his fingers, and walked away before turning and added, "or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve."[2] K-Mart and Dunlop ceased sponsoring Zoeller after the incident.[3][4]

"I know Fuzzy, and it was obvious to me that he was attempting to be funny," number-one ranked golf pro Tom Lehman said. "He probably would have said the same thing to Tiger's face and they both would have yukked it up...[But] it wasn't the best timing, and it wasn't in good taste. It's not appropriate."[2]

"I've been on the tour for 23 years and anybody who knows me knows that I am a jokester," Zoeller said. "It's too bad that something I said in jest was turned into something it's not. But I didn't mean anything by it and I'm sorry if I offend anybody. If Tiger is offended by it, I apologize to him, too. I have nothing but the utmost respect for Tiger as a person and an athlete."

When Woods was asked about it he replied "I'm sure Fuz didn't mean anything derogatory; as a matter of fact, I thought it was funny." Zoeller later offered an apology directly to Woods, which Woods accepted.[5]

[edit] Wikipedia controversy

On February 13, 2007, Zoeller sued the Miami foreign-credential evaluation firm of Josef Silny & Associates. The lawsuit alleged that defamatory statements appeared in the Wikipedia article about Zoeller in December 2006, originating from a computer at that firm.[6][7] According to the suit, the edits suggested Zoeller had committed acts of alcohol, drug, and domestic abuse.[8] Defendant Josef Silny said a computer consultant would investigate.[9][10] However, Zoeller finally dropped the lawsuit in December 2007 after being unsuccessful in finding the poster.[11]

[edit] Amateur wins (3)

  • 1972 Florida State Junior College Championship (individual)
  • 1973 Old Capital Invitational
  • 1973 Indiana State Amateur

[edit] Professional wins (18)

[edit] PGA Tour wins (10)

Major championships are shown in bold.

[edit] Other wins (4)

  • 1985 Skins Game
  • 1986 Skins Game
  • 1987 Merrill Lynch Shoot-Out Championship
  • 2003 Tylenol Par-3 Challenge

[edit] Champions Tour wins (2)

Senior major championship is shown in bold.

[edit] Other senior wins (2)

[edit] Major Championships

[edit] Wins (2)

Year Championship Winning Score Margin Runner(s) Up
1979 The Masters -8 (70-71-69-70=280) Playoff1 Flag of the United States Ed Sneed, Flag of the United States Tom Watson
1984 U.S. Open -4 (71-66-69-70-67=276) Playoff2 Flag of Australia Greg Norman

1Defeated Ed Sneed and Tom Watson in a sudden death playoff - Zoeller 4-3, Sneed 4-4 and Watson 4-4.
2Defeated Greg Norman in a 18 hole playoff (Zoeller shot 67, Norman 75)

[edit] Results timeline

Tournament 1976 1977 1978 1979
The Masters DNP DNP DNP 1
U.S. Open T38 T44 CUT CUT
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP CUT
PGA Championship DNP T54 10 T54
Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
The Masters T19 T43 T10 T20 T31 CUT T21 T27 T16 T26
U.S. Open T53 DNP T15 CUT 1 T9 T15 CUT T8 CUT
The Open Championship CUT DNP T8 T14 T14 T11 T8 T29 T52 CUT
PGA Championship T41 2 CUT T6 DNP T54 CUT 64 CUT CUT
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
The Masters T20 T12 T19 T11 T35 CUT CUT T34 T33 CUT
U.S. Open T8 T5 CUT T68 T58 T21 DNP T28 CUT CUT
The Open Championship DNP T80 DNP T14 3 DNP CUT DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship T14 CUT DNP T31 T19 69 T36 CUT DNP DNP
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
The Masters CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT 60 CUT
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship DNP DNP CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Gigantic Book of Golf Quotations, ed. Jim Apfelbaum. 2007.
  2. ^ a b "Golfer says comments about Woods 'misconstrued'" (April 21, 1997). CNN.com.
  3. ^ Staff report (April 23, 1997). "Kmart Drops Zoeller." New York Times
  4. ^ Sirak, Ron (Feb 15, 1998). Daly, Zoeller are birds of a feather. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
  5. ^ Drape, Joe (May 21, 1997). Woods Meets Zoeller for Lunch. New York Times.
  6. ^ "Golfer Zoeller sues law firm for Wikipedia posting" (February 22, 2007), MiamiHerald.com
  7. ^ Golfer Sues Over Vandalized Wikipedia Page. (February 22, 2007), The Smoking Gun
  8. ^ "Fuzzy teed off", February 22, 2007, Associated Press hosted by Sports Illustrated. Retrieved February 22, 2007.
  9. ^ Zoeller sues to identify the author of a disputed entry on Wikipedia. PGA.com (2007-02-22). Retrieved on 2007-02-23.
  10. ^ Wikipedia entry causes pro-golfer Fuzzy Zoeller to sue. iTWire. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  11. ^ http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/332408.html

[edit] External links

v • d • e
The Masters champions

1934 Horton Smith • 1935 Gene Sarazen • 1936 Horton Smith • 1937 Byron Nelson • 1938 Henry Picard • 1939 Ralph Guldahl • 1940 Jimmy Demaret • 1941 Craig Wood • 1942 Byron Nelson • 1943-45 Cancelled due to World War II • 1946 Herman Keiser • 1947 Jimmy Demaret • 1948 Claude Harmon • 1949 Sam Snead • 1950 Jimmy Demaret • 1951 Ben Hogan • 1952 Sam Snead • 1953 Ben Hogan • 1954 Sam Snead • 1955 Cary Middlecoff • 1956 Jack Burke, Jr. • 1957 Doug Ford • 1958 Arnold Palmer • 1959 Art Wall, Jr. • 1960 Arnold Palmer • 1961 Gary Player • 1962 Arnold Palmer • 1963 Jack Nicklaus • 1964 Arnold Palmer • 1965 Jack Nicklaus • 1966 Jack Nicklaus • 1967 Gay Brewer • 1968 Bob Goalby • 1969 George Archer • 1970 Billy Casper • 1971 Charles Coody • 1972 Jack Nicklaus • 1973 Tommy Aaron • 1974 Gary Player • 1975 Jack Nicklaus • 1976 Raymond Floyd • 1977 Tom Watson • 1978 Gary Player • 1979 Fuzzy Zoeller • 1980 Severiano Ballesteros • 1981 Tom Watson • 1982 Craig Stadler • 1983 Severiano Ballesteros • 1984 Ben Crenshaw • 1985 Bernhard Langer • 1986 Jack Nicklaus • 1987 Larry Mize • 1988 Sandy Lyle • 1989 Nick Faldo • 1990 Nick Faldo • 1991 Ian Woosnam • 1992 Fred Couples • 1993 Bernhard Langer • 1994 José María Olazábal • 1995 Ben Crenshaw • 1996 Nick Faldo • 1997 Tiger Woods • 1998 Mark O'Meara • 1999 José María Olazábal • 2000 Vijay Singh • 2001 Tiger Woods • 2002 Tiger Woods • 2003 Mike Weir • 2004 Phil Mickelson • 2005 Tiger Woods • 2006 Phil Mickelson • 2007 Zach Johnson • 2008 Trevor Immelman
v • d • e
U.S. Open champions

1895 Horace Rawlins · 1896 James Foulis · 1897 Joe Lloyd · 1898 Fred Herd · 1899 Willie Smith · 1900 Harry Vardon · 1901 Willie Anderson · 1902 Laurie Auchterlonie · 1903 Willie Anderson · 1904 Willie Anderson · 1905 Willie Anderson · 1906 Alex Smith · 1907 Alec Ross · 1908 Fred McLeod · 1909 George Sargent · 1910 Alex Smith · 1911 John McDermott · 1912 John McDermott · 1913 Francis Ouimet · 1914 Walter Hagen · 1915 Jerome Travers · 1916 Chick Evans · 1917-18 Cancelled due to World War I · 1919 Walter Hagen · 1920 Ted Ray · 1921 Jim Barnes · 1922 Gene Sarazen · 1923 Bobby Jones · 1924 Cyril Walker · 1925 Willie Macfarlane · 1926 Bobby Jones · 1927 Tommy Armour · 1928 Johnny Farrell · 1929 Bobby Jones · 1930 Bobby Jones · 1931 Billy Burke · 1932 Gene Sarazen · 1933 Johnny Goodman · 1934 Olin Dutra · 1935 Sam Parks, Jr. · 1936 Tony Manero · 1937 Ralph Guldahl · 1938 Ralph Guldahl · 1939 Byron Nelson · 1940 Lawson Little · 1941 Craig Wood · 1942-45 Cancelled due to World War II · 1946 Lloyd Mangrum · 1947 Lew Worsham · 1948 Ben Hogan · 1949 Cary Middlecoff · 1950 Ben Hogan · 1951 Ben Hogan · 1952 Julius Boros · 1953 Ben Hogan · 1954 Ed Furgol · 1955 Jack Fleck · 1956 Cary Middlecoff · 1957 Dick Mayer · 1958 Tommy Bolt · 1959 Billy Casper · 1960 Arnold Palmer · 1961 Gene Littler · 1962 Jack Nicklaus · 1963 Julius Boros · 1964 Ken Venturi · 1965 Gary Player · 1966 Billy Casper · 1967 Jack Nicklaus · 1968 Lee Trevino · 1969 Orville Moody · 1970 Tony Jacklin · 1971 Lee Trevino · 1972 Jack Nicklaus · 1973 Johnny Miller · 1974 Hale Irwin · 1975 Lou Graham · 1976 Jerry Pate · 1977 Hubert Green · 1978 Andy North · 1979 Hale Irwin · 1980 Jack Nicklaus · 1981 David Graham · 1982 Tom Watson · 1983 Larry Nelson · 1984 Fuzzy Zoeller · 1985 Andy North · 1986 Raymond Floyd · 1987 Scott Simpson · 1988 Curtis Strange · 1989 Curtis Strange · 1990 Hale Irwin · 1991 Payne Stewart · 1992 Tom Kite · 1993 Lee Janzen · 1994 Ernie Els · 1995 Corey Pavin · 1996 Steve Jones · 1997 Ernie Els · 1998 Lee Janzen · 1999 Payne Stewart · 2000 Tiger Woods · 2001 Retief Goosen · 2002 Tiger Woods · 2003 Jim Furyk · 2004 Retief Goosen · 2005 Michael Campbell · 2006 Geoff Ogilvy · 2007 Ángel Cabrera
Persondata
NAME Zoeller, Fuzzy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zoeller, Frank Urban, Jr.
SHORT DESCRIPTION American professional golfer
DATE OF BIRTH November 11, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH New Albany, Indiana
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH