Golf Legend Passes Away at 74, Tributes Pour In

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00:00Golf legend passes away at 74, tributes pour in.

00:04Urban Fuzzy Zoller Jr. didn't just play golf.

00:07He brought the game a rare combination of skill, showmanship, and a spirit that refused

00:12to take itself too seriously.

00:15With his passing on November 27th at the age of 74, the game of golf has lost one of its

00:20most colorful and charismatic champions, a player who not only won under pressure, but

00:25did so with a wink and a smile, a true golf legend.

00:29He turned professional in 1973, just after a collegiate career at the Powerhouse University

00:34of Houston.

00:35In 1979, he did what only one golfer before him had done, win the Masters in his debut.

00:41The 1979 Masters came down to a sudden-death playoff, the first of its kind at Augusta National.

00:48Against Tom Watson and Ed Sneed, Zoller sank a dramatic six-foot birdie on the second playoff

00:53hole and launched his putter skyward in celebration.

00:57I've never been to heaven, he once said, and thinking back on my life, I probably won't

01:02get a chance to go.

01:03I guess winning the Masters is as close as I'm going to get.

01:08Five years later, Zoller again found himself center stage at one of golf's most grueling

01:12events, the 1984 US Open at Winged Foot.

01:16It was a battle of nerves, flair, and unexpected twists.

01:20After seeing Norman drain a miracle 50-foot putt from the fringe on the 72nd hole, Zoller,

01:25thinking he had lost, waved a white towel in mock surrender from the fairway.

01:30A par was enough to force a playoff, and Zoller delivered.

01:34He birdied the first two holes, built a lead, and never looked back, ultimately defeating

01:38Norman by eight shots.

01:41The winner of ten PGA Tour events, and two more on the Champions Tour, Zoller's legacy

01:45lies just as much in how he played as what he won.

01:50He was a jokester on the course, a whistler when the nerves kicked in, and a reminder that

01:54greatness doesn't have to come at the cost of joy.

01:57As USGA CEO Mike Wan put it, Fuzzy was one of a kind, I hope we can all remember his unmistakable

02:04joy.

02:05Indeed, remembering Fuzzy Zoller means remembering a man who played hard, laughed often, and left

02:11golf better than he found it.