"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.""
Fuzzy Zoeller was a two-time major champion and a gregarious figure in professional golf who died at 74. A cause of death was not immediately available. Zoeller won the Masters on his first attempt in 1979 in a three-man playoff and defeated Greg Norman in an 18-hole playoff at Winged Foot in 1984 after mistakenly waving a white towel. The 1997 Masters appearance by Tiger Woods provoked a racially insensitive joke by Zoeller during a CNN interview that significantly damaged his popularity. Zoeller apologized repeatedly, wrote about his remorse in Golf Digest, and said the incident would never fully go away.
Read at ESPN.com
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