Former Masters and US Open golf champion Fuzzy Zoeller, whose later years were marred by a racially insensitive joke he made about Tiger Woods, has died.

Zoeller was the last player to win the Masters on his first attempt, a three-man play-off in 1979.

He waved a white towel famously at Winged Foot in 1984 when he thought Greg Norman had beaten him to the US Open title, only to then defeat the Australian great in an 18-hole play-off 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 had finished his round and had a drink in hand under the oak tree by the clubhouse CNN stopped him to ask his thoughts on the 21-year-old Woods.

“That little boy is driving well and he’s putting well. He’s doing everything it takes to win. 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?” Zoeller said.

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, years after he had been awarded the Bob Jones Award in 1985, the USGA’s highest honour given for distinguished sportsmanship.

Zoeller apologised. Woods was travelling and it took two weeks for him to comment as the controversy festered. Zoeller later said he had received death threats for years.

Writing for Golf Digest in 2008, he said it was “the worst thing I’ve gone through in my entire life”.

“If people wanted me to feel the same hurt I projected on others, I’m here to tell you they got their way,” Zoeller wrote.

“I’ve cried many times. I’ve apologised 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 colour, who will attest to that.

“Still, I’ve come to terms with the fact that this incident will never, ever go away.”

It marred a career filled with two famous major titles, eight other PGA Tour titles and a Senior PGA Championship among his two PGA Tour Champions titles.

Fuzzy Zoeller clowns with his caddie Kyle Hill at the Augusta National Golf Club in 2004. Photo: AAP

Born Frank Urban Zoeller jr in New Albany, Indiana, he said his father was known only as “Fuzzy” and he was given the same name.

Zoeller played fast but had an easy-going nature to the way he approached the game, often whistling between shots.

He made his Masters debut in 1979 and got into a three-way playoff when Ed Sneed bogeyed the last three holes. Zoeller defeated Sneed and Tom Watson with a birdie on the second play-off hole, flinging his putter high in the air.

“I’ve never been to heaven, and thinking back on my life, I probably won’t get a chance to go,” he once said. “I guess winning the Masters is as close as I’m going to get.”

Zoeller was locked in a duel with Norman at Winged Foot in the 1984 US Open, playing in the group behind and watching Norman make putt after putt.

So when he saw Norman make a 12-metre putt on the 18th, he assumed it was for birdie and began waving a white towel in a moment of sportsmanship.

Only later did he realise it was for par, and Zoeller made par to force a playoff. Zoeller beat Norman by eight shots in the 18-hole playoff (67-75).

Zoeller’s lone regret was giving the towel to a kid after he finished in regulation.

“If you happen to see a grungy white towel hanging around, get it for me, will you?” he once said.

—AAP