Fuzzy Zoeller, the big winner once linked to racist jokes, has died at 74

Fuzzy Zoeller, a two-time major champion and one of golf’s greatest characters whose career was marred by racially insensitive jokes about Tiger Woods, has died, according to a longtime associate. He was 74.

The cause of death was not immediately available. Brian Nagel, tournament director of the Insperity Invitational in Houston, said Zoeller’s daughter called him Thursday.

Zoeller was the last player to win the Masters in his first attempt, in 1979 in the three-man tournament. He famously waved a white towel at Winged Foot in 1984 when he thought Greg Norman had beaten him, only to beat Norman in an 18-hole playoff the next day.

But it was the 1997 Masters that changed his popularity.

Woods cruised to a watershed moment in golf with the most dominant victory in Augusta National history. Zoeller was praising the performance in a CNN interview when he concluded: “So, you know what you guys do when he gets here? You pat him on the back and congratulate him and enjoy it and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year?”

He smiled and snapped his fingers, and as he walked away he turned and said, “Or collard greens or whatever they do.”

This moment will stay with him for the rest of his career. Zoeller wrote for Golf Digest in 2008: “I’ve cried so many times. I’ve apologized countless times for words that were said in jest that just don’t reflect who I am. I have hundreds of friends, including people of color, who can attest to that. Still, I’ve come to terms with the fact that this will never end.”