Masashi Jumbo Ozaki, Japanese golf legend, dies at the age of 78

Japan’s most successful professional golfer, Masashi “Jumbo” Ozaki, has died at the age of 78.

Nicknamed Jumbo because of his height off the tee, Ozaki has won 94 times on the Japan Tour and topped the country’s Order of Merit 12 times.

He has been in the top ten in the golf rankings for nearly 200 weeks and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2011.

“Although golf has long been popular in Japan, it was Ozaki who brought new vitality to the game and whose emergence led to unprecedented growth in the game in the country,” his profile on the World Golf Hall of Fame website said., external

Ozaki was a professional baseball player before turning to golf and winning his first tournament in 1973 at the age of 26, and his last tournament when he was 55.

He finished in the top 10 at the Open, Masters and US Open and would take a sushi chef with him when he played away from Japan “so that he and his entourage would feel at home outside of their home country.”

Ozaki also ventured into singing and had three singles in the Japanese charts in the late 1980s.

A statement on the Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO) website said Ozaki’s son Tomoharu announced his father’s death after being diagnosed with colon cancer nearly a year ago.

“The golf world has lost a truly great man,” said JGTO President Yutaka Morohoshi., external

“He has led the world of men’s professional golf for a long time and has overcome others with his unparalleled power.”