In Memoriam: Golfing Greats We Lost In 2025

Fuzzy Zoeller

In 1979, in the 44th Masters, Fuzzy Zoeller became the first Masters debutant since the second Masters to win. He won a three-way sudden-death play-off with Ed Sneed and Tom Watson, the first sudden-death play-off at the Masters.

He put this victory down to his Augusta National caddie Jerry Beard: “I never had one thought all week. I figured my local caddy knew this course a whole lot better than me, so I just put my hand out and played whatever club he put in it. I'd say how hard do I hit it, he'd tell me and I'd swing.”

He won his other Major, the 1984 US Open, after a play-off, too. After Greg Norman had holed a 40ft (some say 50ft) putt to par the 72nd hole. Zoeller, watching from the fairway, waved a white towel in surrender. He believed Norman had made a birdie, not par – Zoeller was not aware that Norman had put his approach into the grandstand.

The pair had dinner together that night Zoeller won the play-off the next day by eight shots, carding 67, and Norman waved a white towel at him as they walked up to the18th green.

“I’m not a great player, but I’m a damn good one,” Zoeller said after the victory.

Zoeller also won a Senior Major, the 2002 Senior PGA Championship.

Frank Urban Zoeller Jr. was nicknamed Fuzzy, as was his father, from his initials. The son said he didn’t realise his name was Frank until he started school and the teachers called him by that name.

Jay Sigel

Robert Jay Sigel was considered by many to be America’s finest amateur golfer since Bobby Jones.

He won the US Amateur twice and also the British Amateur. He played in nine Walker Cups, serving as playing captain in two of those appearances. He was the Low Amateur at the 1980 Open, the 1984 US Open, and the 1980, 1981 and 1988 Masters.

He had intended a career as a pro golfer after university, but put his hand through a glass door pane and his hand required 70 stitches. He embarked on a successful career in insurance instead. “I always thought things happen for a reason. The hand injury was the best thing to happen to me,” he said later in life.

He turned pro aged 50 to play on the Senior PGA Tour, on which he won eight tournaments.

Peter McEvoy

Of Peter McEvoy, Mark Darbon, Chief Executive of The R&A, said, “We have lost one of amateur golf’s most respected figures. Peter was dedicated to the amateur game and will be widely missed across the golf world.”

McEvoy was at the peak of his game in the late Seventies. He won the Amateur Championship in 1977 and 1978, the Silver Medal at The Open Championships of 1978 and 1979 for Low Amateur and, in 1978, became the first British amateur to make the cut at the Masters.

He admitted he did think of turning pro in 1979: “I was back-to-back Amateur Champion, low amateur in The Open and made the cut at the Masters.

"I had just qualified as a solicitor, though, and I didn’t want to give that up so keeping my amateur status was the right thing to do for me.” He also worked as a golf administrator, writer and course designer.

He played five Walker Cups for GB & Ireland, and then captained the victorious sides of 1999 and 2001 which was the first time GB&I had won back-to-back Walker Cups.

Judy Bell

In 1996, Judith Bell became the 54th President of the United States Golf Association and the first woman to hold this position. A member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, she also won the USGA’s highest accolade, the Bob Jones Award.

She was an entrepreneur, who owned clothing businesses and food outlets. She was also a fine amateur golfer. She twice represented the United States in the Curtis Cup, in the wins of 1960 and 1962, and captained the teams of 1986 and 1988.

In 1964 she shot 67 in the third round of the US Women’s Open, a record which stood for 14 years until Sally Little carded a 65 in her final round in 1978.

Barbara McIntire

An excellent putter, Barbara McIntire won the 1959 and 1964 US Women's Amateur and 1960 British Ladies Amateur. She is one of only eleven golfers to win both these titles.

She played in six Curtis Cups and also captained the 1976 and 1998 teams.

McIntire was given the Bob Jones Award for outstanding service to golf by the USGA in 2000.

She was the business partner of, Judy Bell who died a few months after her.

JC Snead

The nephew of Sam Snead, Jesse Carlyle Snead won eight times on the PGA Tour and won a Senior Major. Golf however had not been his first sporting love: he had been a professional baseball player before he became a pro golfer.

He was twice a runner-up in a Major, coming second in the Masters of 1973 and tied second in the 1978 US Open. But he did win a Senior Major when, in 1995 he overcame Jack Nicklaus in a playoff at the Ford Senior Players Championship.

He played in the Ryder Cups of 1971, 1973 and 1975.

Brian Waites

Brian Waites played in his only Ryder Cup as a 43 year old. He qualified for the 1983 Ryder Cup through his 7th place position on the relevant European Tour money list, when the top 12 qualified.

Born in 1940, he turned pro aged 17, but worked mainly as a club pro for the first 20 years. But in late 1970s he expanded his tournament schedule and won five times on the Safari Tour and twice on the European Tour.

It could have been four European wins but he lost two play-offs, one on the fourth extra hole and the other on the sixth extra hole. He also won four times on the European Senior Tour.

Mike Hill

Michael Hill had three wins in the 1970s on the PGA Tour and 18 in the 1990s on the Senior PGA Tour.

He grew up with his six siblings on a dairy farm in Jackson, Michigan, next door to Jackson Country Club. “The golf course was built right up to our property line,” Mike Hill recalled. “All of us kids became caddies and all became pretty good golfers.”

One of his brothers, Dave Hill, 20 months his senior, won 13 times on the PGA Tour and played in three Ryder Cups.