Japanese Golf Legend Masashi Ozaki Dies at 78

Tokyo, Dec. 24 (Jiji Press)--Masashi Ozaki, Japan's most successful male professional golfer, better known by his nickname "Jumbo Ozaki," or simply "Jumbo," died of sigmoid colon cancer Tuesday at the age of 78.

A native of the southwestern prefecture of Tokushima, Ozaki, renowned for his signature powerful swing and prodigious length, was a central figure of the sport's boom from the 1970s through the 1980s. He won a record 94 Professional Golfers' Association of Japan tournaments and topped the money list 12 times.

As ace pitcher, Ozaki led Tokushima's Kainan High School, now Kaifu High School, to a championship at the 1964 national high school baseball invitational tournament.

He joined the Nishitetsu Lions professional baseball team, now the Saitama Seibu Lions, in 1965 but retired from the sport after three seasons with limited success, and switched to golf.

After passing the PGA professional test in 1970, Ozaki won his first major victory at the Japan PGA Championship in 1971. In 1973, when the tour system began, Ozaki claimed five victories and his first money title.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]