Fuzzy Zoeller, a 10-time PGA Tour winner and one of the most colorful and recognizable personalities in professional golf, has died at the age of 74, the PGA Tour announced Thursday. No cause of death was disclosed.

“The PGA Tour is saddened by the passing of Fuzzy Zoeller,” commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement posted on X. “Fuzzy was a true original whose talent and charisma left an indelible mark on the game of golf. Fuzzy combined competitive excellence with a sense of humor that endeared him to fans and fellow players alike. We celebrate his remarkable legacy and extend our deepest condolences to his family.”

Zoeller’s work on the course was significant. He won the Masters in 1979 and the U.S. Open in 1984, one of the few players in history to claim both majors. In all, he captured 10 PGA Tour titles and added two more victories on PGA Tour Champions. His easy laugh, quick one-liners and willingness to engage with fans made him a gallery favorite for decades.

But Zoeller’s legacy is also inseparable from a racist joke he made about Tiger Woods during Woods’ historic 1997 Masters victory, a moment that would follow him for the rest of his life. As Woods, then 21, surged toward his first green jacket, Zoeller was asked by CNN for his thoughts on the young star.

“That little boy is driving well and he’s putting well,” Zoeller said, according to the Associated Press. “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 serve fried chicken next year. Got it?”

As he walked away, Zoeller turned back and added, “Or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve.”

The remarks sparked immediate and widespread condemnation. Zoeller apologized a day later, but initially pushed back on parts of how his comments were characterized.

“I am a fun-loving person,” he said. “I make joke, cut jokes all the time. My apologies if somebody interpreted that into a racial remark.”

The backlash did not fade, and Zoeller continued to revisit and regret that moment in the years that followed. In a 2008 piece for Golf Digest, he wrote candidly about the weight of the incident.

“I’ve cried many times,” Zoeller wrote. “I’ve apologized countless times for words said in jest that just aren’t a reflection of who I am. I have hundreds of friends, including people of color, who will attest to that. Still, I’ve come to terms with the fact that this incident will never, ever go away.”

Fuzzy Zoeller’s life in golf was marked by joy, competitive brilliance, and a willingness to entertain — but also by a painful reminder of how words, even framed as jokes, can wound and linger. As the golf world reflects on his passing, it does so with a full view of that complicated legacy: a major champion and fan favorite whose greatest victories and deepest regret will always share the same history.

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