根据一位老同事的说法，两届大满贯冠军、高尔夫球最合群的人物之一Fuzzy Zoeller已经去世，他的职业生涯被一个关于老虎伍兹(Tiger Woods)的种族麻木的笑话玷污了。他74岁了。
死亡原因还不清楚。休斯顿Insperity邀请赛的赛事总监布莱恩·瑙格(Brian Naugle)说，佐勒尔的女儿周四打电话告诉了他这个消息。
Zoeller是最后一个第一次尝试就赢得大师赛的球员，那是在1979年的三人季后赛。1984年，他以为格雷格·诺曼打败了他，结果在第二天的18洞季后赛中击败了诺曼，当时他在“翼足”挥舞着白毛巾。
但正是1997年的大师赛改变了他的人气。
伍兹即将迎来高尔夫球的分水岭时刻，这是奥古斯塔国家历史上最具统治力的胜利。Zoeller在接受CNN采访时称赞了他的表现，并在结束时说:“所以，你知道当他进来时你们会做什么吗?你拍拍他的背，说恭喜你，好好享受，告诉他明年不要供应炸鸡。懂了吗?”
他微笑着打了个响指，当他离开的时候，他转过身说，“或者是羽衣甘蓝或者他们提供的其他什么东西。”
在他的职业生涯中，那一刻一直萦绕着他。Zoeller在2008年为《高尔夫文摘》写道:“我哭过很多次。我已经为那些开玩笑说的话道歉无数次了，那些话并没有反映出我是谁。我有数百个朋友，包括有色人种，他们可以证明这一点。不过，我已经接受了这个事实，那就是这件事永远不会消失。”
Fuzzy Zoeller, two-time major champ haunted by racist Tiger Woods joke, dies at 74
Fuzzy Zoeller, a two-time major champion and one of golf's most gregarious characters whose career was tainted by a racially insensitive joke about Tiger Woods, has died, according to a longtime colleague. He was 74.
A cause of death was not immediately available. Brian Naugle, the tournament director of the Insperity Invitational in Houston, said Zoeller's daughter called him Thursday with the news.
Zoeller was the last player to win the Masters on his first attempt, a three-man playoff in 1979. He famously waved a white towel at Winged Foot in 1984 when he thought Greg Norman had beat him, only to defeat Norman in an 18-hole playoff the next day.
But it was the 1997 Masters that changed his popularity.
Woods was on his way to a watershed moment in golf with the most dominant victory in Augusta National history. Zoeller was praising the performance in a CNN interview when he ended it by saying: "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?”
He smiled and snapped his fingers, and as he was walking away he turned and said, "Or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve.”
That moment haunted him the rest of his career. Zoeller wrote for Golf Digest in 2008: “I’ve cried many times. 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.”
