Masashi Ozaki

Masashi Ozaki was 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, over 40 more than the second highest player. Ozaki was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2011.

Career

Ozaki was born in Kaifu District, Tokushima, on 24 January 1947.
He was a professional baseball pitcher/outfielder from 1965 to 1967 with the Nishitetsu Lions. However, 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 1973–1974, 1977, 1988–1990, 1992, and 1994–1998. Ozaki finished 8th at the 1973 Masters Tournament and finished 6th at the 1989 U.S. Open. 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.
As late as 2019, he still played occasionally on the Japan Golf Tour.

Ozaki's brothers Tateo "Jet" Ozaki and Naomichi "Joe" Ozaki were also professional golfers, both having played and won on the Japan Golf Tour.
Ozaki died of colorectal cancer on 23 December 2025, at the age of 78.

Ozaki won the Japan Golf Tour money list 12 times: in 1973, 1974, 1977, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998
In 2011, Ozaki was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.