Masashi Ozaki


Masashi Ozaki is a Japanese professional golfer. Ozaki is often known as Jumbo Ozaki on account of his height and length off the tee. He featured in the top ten of the Official World Golf Rankings for almost 200 weeks between 1989 and 1998. He is the most successful player of all time on the Japan Golf Tour, having led the money list a record 12 times and won 94 tournaments, more than 40 more than the second highest player. Ozaki was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2011.

Biography

Ozaki was born in Kaifu District, Tokushima. He was a professional baseball pitcher/outfielder from 1965 to 1967 with the Nishitetsu Lions, but he turned to professional golf at the age of 23 and won the Japan PGA Championship the following year.
Ozaki led the Japan Golf Tour in earnings in 1973–74, 1977, 1988–90, 1992, and 1994–98. Ozaki finished 8th at The Masters in 1973 and finished 6th at the U.S. Open in 1989. He competed at the Masters 19 times. He played occasionally on the PGA Tour from 1972 to 2000, in 96 tournaments, though never more than nine in one year. In these starts, his best finish was a T-4 at the 1993 Memorial Tournament. Ozaki played on the International Team in the 1996 Presidents Cup. Ozaki built "AON Age" with his rivals Isao Aoki and Tsuneyuki "Tommy" Nakajima. Ozaki's brothers Tateo "Jet" and Naomichi "Joe" are also professional golfers and, like Masashi, have been extremely successful on the Japan Golf Tour with dozens of wins between them. Now in his sixties, he still plays regularly on the Japan Golf Tour.

Professional wins (114)

Japan Golf Tour wins (94)

*Note: Tournament shortened to 54 holes due to weather.
Japan Golf Tour playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
11973Taiheiyo Club Masters Bert YanceyWon three-hole aggregate playoff;
Ozaki: −1,
Yancey: +2
21974ANA Sapporo Open Isao AokiWon with birdie on first extra hole
31978Hiroshima Open Hideyo Sugimoto
41979Yomiuri Open Teruo SugiharaLost to birdie on second extra hole
51980Toshiba Taiheiyo Masters Norio SuzukiLost after concession on first extra hole
61983Kanto Open Kikuo Arai, Saburo Fujiki
71983Jun Classic Masahiro Kuramoto
81988Polaroid Cup Golf Digest Tournament Brian JonesWon with birdie on first extra hole
91991Jun Classic Ryoken KawagishiWon with par on first extra hole
101992Dunlop Open Brent FranklinWon with birdie on first extra hole
111992Jun Classic Chen Tze-chungLost to par on third extra hole
121996Mitsubishi Galant Tournament Todd HamiltonWon with par on first extra hole
131996JCB Classic Sendai David IshiiWon with par on first extra hole
141996Hisamitsu-KBC Augusta Taichi TeshimaWon with par on second extra hole
151998Japan PGA Championship Brandt JobeLost to par on first extra hole
161998Golf Nippon Series JT Cup Katsumasa MiyamotoLost to birdie on fourth extra hole
171999Yonex Open Hiroshima Shigemasa HigakiWon with birdie on first extra hole
182000Sun Chlorella Classic Shoichi YamamotoWon with birdie on first extra hole
192001Juken Sangyo Open Hiroshima Keiichiro FukaboriLost to par on first extra hole
202003Acom International Masahiro Kuramoto, Katsumasa MiyamotoKuramoto won with birdie on first extra hole

Other Japan wins (14)

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Team appearances

This list may be incomplete.