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What number of golfers with a ‘z’ of their identify have gained a Main Championship? Are you able to identify them? BRENDAN BARRATT lists them right here.
When Matt Fitzpatrick claimed the 2022 US Open, he joined a choose group of golfers by turning into simply the twelfth male golfer with a ‘z’ in his identify to win a Main Championship. In the meantime, Allisen Corpuz’s triumph on the US Ladies’s Open a 12 months later took the women’ tally to only seven. Who precisely are these 19 golfers who make up Technology Z?
Gene Sarazen
The primary of the ‘z-crew’ to win a Main, Sarazen gained a complete of seven Main Championships all through a distinguished profession that noticed him change into the second participant, after Bobby Jones, to win the profession Grand Slam. Sarazen’s trendy Grand Slam was the primary to incorporate The Masters – because the occasion solely started in 1934 – and the American was additionally credited with inventing the sand-wedge.
Fuzzy Zoeller
Frank City ‘Fuzzy’ Zoeller is the final golfer to win The Masters on debut, capturing the 1979 occasion in a sudden-death playoff. He would go on so as to add the 1984 US Open at Winged Foot to his CV, defeating Greg Norman by way of an 18-hole playoff.
Jose Maria Olazabal
World Golf Corridor of Fame member Olazabal is a two-time Masters champion (1994 and 1999) and a seven-time Ryder Cup participant. He’s additionally one in every of solely a handful of Ryder Cup captains to have gained on overseas soil, having helped the European group to combat again from 10-4 all the way down to edge the US group 14.5 to 13.5 at Medinah in 2012.
Zach Johnson
One other Masters champion with a z in his identify, the US Ryder Cup skipper has claimed arguably the 2 most coveted Majors in golf – The Open Championship at St Andrews and The Masters.
Roberto De Vicenzo
Whereas the Argentinian gained just one Main title, De Vicenzo is rightfully thought of one of many recreation’s greats, having amassed no fewer than 229 skilled wins over a rare profession. That tally may need been 230 had he not signed an incorrect scorecard on the 1968 Masters – resulting in one of the vital notorious golf quotes of all time: ‘What a silly I’m to be mistaken right here.’
Paul Azinger
One of the gifted gamers of his technology, ‘Zinger’ collected his solely Main title on the 1984 PGA Championship at Inverness when he edged Greg Norman in a playoff. Azinger is a most cancers survivor and his post-golfing profession has seen him change into properly revered as a golf analyst and broadcaster. He additionally led the People to victory on the 2008 Ryder Cup.
Lee Janzen
Janzen recorded two spectacular US Open victories (1993 and 1998), each occasions beating Payne Stewart into second. The American additionally gained The Gamers Championship in 1995, in a profession that noticed him win eight occasions on the PGA Tour.
Larry Mize
Mize might solely have recorded 4 wins on the PGA Tour however he’s remembered for one of many recreation’s most iconic moments. In a playoff for the 1987 Masters, the American holed an unlikely chip on the second playoff gap to edge Greg Norman and declare the coveted Main.
Louis Oosthuizen
One in every of two South Africans to make the listing, Oosthuizen’s Main report is kind of one thing. A runaway victory on the 2010 Open Championship has been adopted by no fewer than six runner-up spots and an extra two third-place finishes.
Charl Schwartzel
A 12 months after his good mate Oosthuizen gained The Open, Schwartzel birdied the ultimate 4 holes of the 2011 Masters to write down his identify in golf historical past and get himself a quite fetching inexperienced jacket. Though his profession has didn’t match these dizzy heights, the South African has now recorded a powerful 15 skilled titles, together with 11 on the DP World Tour.
Matt Fitzpatrick
Fitzpatrick claimed the 2022 US Open at The Nation Membership in Brookline, Massachusetts – the identical venue the place he gained the US Newbie Championship 9 years earlier. Whereas not a prolific winner, the Englishman has gained quite a lot of massive occasions, together with the DP World Tour Championship twice, the British Masters and the Omega European Masters (twice).
Vic Ghezzi
American Ghezzi gained the 1941 PGA Championship – again when the occasion was a matchplay match. In a outstanding remaining, Ghezzi edged defending champion Byron Nelson on the thirty eighth gap.
Ladies (7)
Babe Zaharias (10) – Ladies’s Western Open (1940, 1944, 1945, 1950), Titleholders Championship (1947, 1950, 1952), US Ladies’s Open (1948, 1950, 1954)Nancy Lopez (3) – LPGA Championship (1978, 1985, 1989)Suzann Pettersen (2) – 2007 LPGA Championship, 2013 Evian ChampionshipAllisen Corpuz (1) – 2023 US Ladies’s OpenJerilyn Britz (1) – 1979 US Ladies’s OpenSandra Spuzich (1) – 1966 US Ladies’s OpenJoyce Ziske (1) – 1960 Ladies’s Western Open
– This text first appeared within the November 2023 concern of Compleat Golfer journal.
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Photograph: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Photos
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