Life and career

Born and raised in New Albany, Indiana, Zoeller was successful golfer while at New Albany High School, finishing as the runner-up in the 1970 state high school tournament. After completing his high school career, he attended Edison Junior College in Florida, transferred to the University of Houston, and became a professional golfer in 1973. Zoeller won both of his two majors in playoffs: the 1979 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in a three-way sudden-death playoff with Ed Sneed and Tom Watson; and the 1984 U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club after an 18-hole playoff with Greg Norman.

In 1979, Zoeller became the first golfer since 1935 to win The Masters in his first appearance in the event. The only two other golfers to have won The Masters on their debut at Augusta were the winners of the first two Masters tournaments Horton Smith and Gene Sarazen, in 1934 and 1935 respectively. It was the first sudden-death playoff at The Masters; the previous six playoffs were 18-hole rounds on Monday (except 1935, which was 36 holes).

For much of his career, Zoeller was famous for waving a white towel in mock surrender from the fairway of the 72nd hole of the 1984 U.S. Open, after Greg Norman holed a long putt on the 72nd green to tie Zoeller for the tournament lead. At the end of the 18-hole playoff the next day between Norman and Zoeller (which Zoeller won by 8 strokes), Norman waved a white towel himself, returning the joke.

Zoeller was voted the 1985 winner of the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf.

Zoeller shared the 54-hole lead in the 1994 Open Championship after a 3rd round of 64, but finished the tournament in 3rd place, his best-ever finish in The Open. Zoeller missed an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th green in his 3rd round at Turnberry which would have tied the record for the best single round at The Open.

He competed at the 1979, 1983 and 1985 Ryder Cups, collecting 1.5 points in 10 matches.

In 2002, Zoeller joined the Champions Tour and won the Senior PGA Championship, a senior major, that year. He also won the 2004 MasterCard Championship.

Controversies

Zoeller is often jokingly critical of his colleagues on the golf course, for instance, asking "Where are the windmills and animals?" on a newly designed golf course, or heckling Craig Stadler, saying, "Nice clods, Stadler. Did you get those at a Buster Brown fire sale?"

At the 1997 Masters Tournament, Zoeller made a racist remark regarding Tiger Woods. After finishing tied for 34th place with a score of 78, Zoeller, referring to the following year's Masters Champions Dinner, for which the defending champion selects the menu, said, "He's doing quite well, pretty impressive. That little boy is driving well and he's putting well. 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 to serve fried chicken next year. Got it." Zoeller then smiled, snapped his fingers, and walked away before turning and adding, "or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve." K-Mart and Dunlop ceased sponsoring Zoeller after the incident.

"I know Fuzzy, and it was obvious to me that he was attempting to be funny," fellow golf professional Tom Lehman said. "He probably would have said the same thing to Tiger's face and they both would have yukked it up... it wasn't the best timing, and it wasn't in good taste. It's not appropriate."

"I've been on the tour for 23 years and anybody who knows me knows that I am a jokester," Zoeller said. "It's too bad that something I said in jest was turned into something it's not. But I didn't mean anything by it and I'm sorry if I offend anybody. If Tiger is offended by it, I apologize to him, too. I have nothing but the utmost respect for Tiger as a person and an athlete."

Zoeller later offered an apology directly to Woods, which Woods accepted.

Wikipedia controversy

On February 13, 2007, Zoeller sued Josef Silny & Associates, a foreign-credential evaluation firm based in Miami, Florida. The lawsuit alleged that defamatory statements appeared in the Wikipedia article about Zoeller in December 2006, originating from a computer at that firm. According to the suit, the edits suggested Zoeller had committed acts including alcohol, drug and domestic abuse. Defendant Josef Silny said a computer consultant would investigate. However, Zoeller dropped the lawsuit in December 2007 after being unsuccessful in finding the poster. Zoeller was unable to sue Wikipedia for the statements due to protections accorded to providers of "interactive computer services" under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Amateur wins (3)

• 1972 Florida State Junior College Championship (individual)
• 1973 Old Capital Invitational (Indiana)
• 1973 Indiana State Amateur

Professional wins (19)

PGA Tour wins (10)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Jan 28, 1979	Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational	76-67-67-72=282	−6	5 strokes	Billy Kratzert, Wayne Levi, Artie McNickle, Tom Watson
2	Apr 15, 1979	Masters Tournament	70-71-69-70=280	−8	Playoff	Ed Sneed, Tom Watson
3	May 17, 1981	Colonial National Invitation	67-69-68-70=274	−6	4 strokes	Hale Irwin
4	Apr 18, 1983	Sea Pines Heritage	67-72-65-71=275	−9	2 strokes	Jim Nelford
5	Sep 18, 1983	Panasonic Las Vegas Pro Celebrity Classic	63-70-70-64-73=340	−18	4 strokes	Rex Caldwell
6	Jun 18, 1984	U.S. Open	71-66-69-70=276	−4	Playoff	Greg Norman
7	Mar 10, 1985	Hertz Bay Hill Classic	70-72-66-67=275	−9	2 strokes	Tom Watson
8	Feb 2, 1986	AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am	69-66-70=205	−11	5 strokes	Payne Stewart
9	Apr 20, 1986	Sea Pines Heritage (2)	68-68-69-71=276	−8	1 stroke	Chip Beck, Roger Maltbie, Greg Norman
10	Jul 13, 1986	Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic	70-68-72-64=274	−10	2 strokes	Jodie Mudd

PGA Tour playoff record (2-2)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1979	Masters Tournament	Ed Sneed, Tom Watson	Won with birdie on second extra hole
2	1983	Colonial National Invitational	Jim Colbert	Lost to par on sixth extra hole
2	1984	U.S. Open	Greg Norman	Won 18-hole playoff (Zoeller:67, Norman:75)
4	1994	Tour Championship	Mark McCumber	Lost to birdie on first extra hole

Other wins (4)

• 1985 Skins Game
• 1986 Skins Game
• 1987 Merrill Lynch Shoot-Out Championship
• 2003 Tylenol Par-3 Challenge

Champions Tour wins (2)

• 2002 Senior PGA Championship
• 2004 MasterCard Championship

Senior major championship is shown in bold.

Other senior wins (3)

• 2002 Senior Slam
• 2008 Wendy's Champions Skins Game (with Peter Jacobsen)
• 2009 Wendy's Champions Skins Game (with Ben Crenshaw)

Major championships

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	To par	Margin	Runner(s)-up
1979	Masters Tournament	6 shot deficit	70-71-69-70=280	−8	Playoff1	Ed Sneed, Tom Watson
1984	U.S. Open	1 shot deficit	71-66-69-70=276	−4	Playoff2	Greg Norman

1Defeated Sneed and Watson in a sudden-death playoff - Zoeller 4-3 (−1), Sneed 4-4 (E) and Watson 4-4 (E).
2Defeated Norman in an 18-hole playoff - Zoeller 67 (-3), Norman 75 (+5).

Results timeline

Tournament	1976	1977	1978	1979
Masters Tournament	DNP	DNP	DNP	1
U.S. Open	T38	T44	CUT	CUT
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT
PGA Championship	DNP	T54	10	T54

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Masters Tournament	T19	T43	T10	T20	T31	CUT	T21	T27	T16	T26
U.S. Open	T53	DNP	T15	CUT	1	T9	T15	CUT	T8	CUT
The Open Championship	CUT	DNP	T8	T14	T14	T11	T8	T29	T52	CUT
PGA Championship	T41	2	CUT	T6	DNP	T54	CUT	64	CUT	CUT

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Masters Tournament	T20	T12	T19	T11	T35	CUT	CUT	T34	T33	CUT
U.S. Open	T8	T5	CUT	T68	T58	T21	DNP	T28	CUT	CUT
The Open Championship	DNP	T80	DNP	T14	3	DNP	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	T14	CUT	DNP	T31	T19	69	T36	CUT	DNP	DNP

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Masters Tournament	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	CUT	60	CUT	CUT
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	1	0	0	1	2	10	31	18
U.S. Open	1	0	0	2	5	8	22	14
The Open Championship	0	0	1	1	3	7	14	10
PGA Championship	0	1	0	1	3	5	20	13
Totals	2	1	1	5	13	30	87	55

• Most consecutive cuts made - 8 (1993 Masters - 1994 PGA)
• Longest streak of top-10s - 2 (twice)

Champions Tour major championships

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	Winning score	To par	Margin	Runners-up
2002	Senior PGA Championship	69-71-70-68=278	−2	2 strokes	Hale Irwin, Bobby Wadkins

[ Source: Wikipedia ]