Fuzzy Zoeller

Fuzzy Zoeller
Personal information
Full name Frank Urban Zoeller, Jr.
Nickname Fuzzy
Born November 11, 1951 (1951-11-11) (age 60)
New Albany, Indiana
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 14 st)
Nationality  United States
Residence Floyds Knobs, Indiana
Career
College Edison Junior College (FL)
University of Houston
Turned professional 1973
Current tour(s) Champions Tour
Former tour(s) PGA Tour
Professional wins 20
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour 10
Champions Tour 2
Other 8
Best results in Major Championships
(Wins: 2)
Masters Tournament Won: 1979
U.S. Open Won: 1984
The Open Championship 3rd: 1994
PGA Championship 2nd: 1981
Achievements and awards
Bob Jones Award 1985

Frank Urban "Fuzzy" Zoeller, Jr. ( /ˈzɛlər/; 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

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.

Controversies

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] For much of his career, Zoeller was most famous for waving a white towel in mock surrender from the fairway of the 72nd hole of the 1984 U.S. Open, after Greg Norman holed a long putt on the 72nd green to tie Zoeller for the tournament lead. At the end of the 18-hole playoff the next day between Norman and Zoeller (which Zoeller won by a whopping 8 strokes), Norman waved a white towel himself, returning the joke.

But at the 1997 Masters tournament, Zoeller made an off-hand remark regarding Tiger Woods. After finishing tied for 34th place with a score of 78, Zoeller, referring to the following year's Masters Champions Dinner, for which the defending champion selects the menu, said, "He's doing quite well, pretty impressive. 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 adding, "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."

Zoeller later offered an apology directly to Woods, which Woods accepted.[5]

On June 1, 2009, he launched a new venture, "Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka."[6]

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.[7][8] According to the suit, the edits suggested Zoeller had committed acts of alcohol, drug, and domestic abuse.[9] Defendant Josef Silny said a computer consultant would investigate.[10][11] However, Zoeller finally dropped the lawsuit in December 2007 after being unsuccessful in finding the poster.[12] Zoeller was unable to sue Wikipedia for the statements due to protections accorded to providers of "interactive computer services" under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.[13]

Amateur wins (3)

Professional wins (20)

PGA Tour wins (10)

No. Date Tournament Winning Score Margin of Victory Runner(s)-up
1 Jan 28, 1979 Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational -6 (76-67-67-72=282) 4 strokes Billy Kratzert,
Artie McNickle,
Tom Watson
2 Apr 15, 1979 Masters Tournament -8 (70-71-69-70=280) Playoff Ed Sneed, Tom Watson
3 May 17, 1981 Colonial National Invitation -6 (67-69-68-70=274) 4 strokes Hale Irwin
4 Apr 18, 1983 Sea Pines Heritage -9 (67-72-65-71=275) 2 strokes Jim Nelford
5 Sep 28, 1983 Panasonic Las Vegas Pro Celebrity Classic -15 (63-70-70-64-73=340) 4 strokes Rex Caldwell
6 Jun 17, 1984 U.S. Open -4 (71-66-69-70=276) Playoff Greg Norman
7 Mar 10, 1985 Hertz Bay Hill Classic -9 (70-72-66-67=275) 2 strokes Tom Watson
8 Feb 2, 1986 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am -11 (69-66-70=205) 3 strokes Payne Stewart
9 Apr 20, 1986 Sea Pines Heritage -8 (68-68-69-71=276) 1 stroke Chip Beck,
Roger Maltbie,
Greg Norman
10 Jul 13, 1986 Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic -10 (70-68-72-64=274) 2 strokes Jodie Mudd

Other wins (5)

Champions Tour wins (2)

Senior major championship is shown in bold.

Other senior wins (3)

Major championships

Wins (2)

Year Championship 54 Holes Winning Score Margin Runner(s)-up
1979 Masters Tournament 6 shot deficit -8 (70-71-69-70=280) Playoff1 Ed Sneed, Tom Watson
1984 U.S. Open 1 shot deficit -4 (71-66-69-70-67=276) Playoff2 Greg Norman

1Defeated Ed Sneed and Tom Watson in a sudden death playoff - Zoeller 4-3 (-1), Sneed 4-4 (E) and Watson 4-4 (E).
2Defeated Greg Norman in a 18 hole playoff - Zoeller 67 (-3), Norman 75 (+5).

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 2009
The Masters CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT 60 CUT CUT
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship DNP DNP CUT DNP DNP 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

Champions Tour major championships

Wins (1)

Year Championship Winning Score Margin Runner(s)-up
2002 Senior PGA Championship −2 (69−71−70−68=278) 2 strokes Hale Irwin, Bobby Wadkins

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. ^ http://www.fuzzyvodka.com
  7. ^ "Golfer Zoeller sues law firm for Wikipedia posting" (February 22, 2007), MiamiHerald.com
  8. ^ Golfer Sues Over Vandalized Wikipedia Page. (February 22, 2007), The Smoking Gun
  9. ^ "Fuzzy teed off", February 22, 2007, Associated Press hosted by Sports Illustrated. Retrieved February 22, 2007.
  10. ^ "Zoeller sues to identify the author of a disputed entry on Wikipedia". PGA.com. 2007-02-22. http://www.pga.com/news/tours/champions/zoeller022207.cfm. Retrieved 2007-02-23. 
  11. ^ "Wikipedia entry causes pro-golfer Fuzzy Zoeller to sue". iTWire. http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/9913/53/. Retrieved 2007-02-25. 
  12. ^ http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/332408.html
  13. ^ Beaumont, Claudine (May 11, 2008). "Wikipedia fights defamation lawsuit". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1946275/Wikipedia-fights-defamation-lawsuit.html. Retrieved May 3, 2010. 

External links

1980 Arnold Palmer† • 1981 Miller Barber • 1982 Don January • 1983 Not held • 1984 (Jan) Arnold Palmer • 1984 (Dec) Peter Thomson • 1985 Not held • 1986 Gary Player • 1987 Chi-Chi Rodríguez • 1988 Gary Player • 1989 Larry Mowry • 1990 Gary Player • 1991 Jack Nicklaus • 1992 Lee Trevino • 1993 Tom Wargo† • 1994 Lee Trevino • 1995 Raymond Floyd • 1996 Hale Irwin • 1997 Hale Irwin • 1998 Hale Irwin • 1999 Allen Doyle • 2000 Doug Tewell • 2001 Tom Watson • 2002 Fuzzy Zoeller • 2003 John Jacobs • 2004 Hale Irwin • 2005 Mike Reid† • 2006 Jay Haas† • 2007 Denis Watson • 2008 Jay Haas • 2009 Michael Allen • 2010 Tom Lehman† • 2011 Tom Watson†
† indicates the event was won in a playoff