FUZZY ZOELLER is profiled by SENIOR GOLFER's Jack
O'Leary, who notes that next month "marks three years since
Zoeller's notorious self-immolation" -- his reference to
Tiger Woods serving fried chicken at the champion's dinner
at The Masters. During the "days that followed that
incident," Zoeller and the media "awaited a response from
the Woods camp," and "many in the media attributed Woods'
silence to anger." But Zoeller says that the "freeze
actually dated back 13 years and was based on bad blood
between" himself and Woods' former IMG agent HUGHES NORTON,
as Zoeller elected not to play in an "IMG-run Swiss golf
tournament" in '84 that Norton "tried to persuade him into
playing." Zoeller: "The delay in Tiger's response was
Hughes Norton." IMG's Bev Norwood responded "on behalf of
Norton," who is no longer with the firm, and said, "There
was no effort by anyone to prolong the situation for Fuzzy."
NO FAMILY AFFAIR? Meanwhile, Zoeller said the PGA Tour
players "used to have a family concept on the tour. We'd do
everything together. Now, it's all individuals. It goes
back to the old hog-and-pig theory. Pigs get fat and hogs
get slaughtered. There are a lot of hogs out there -- a lot
of hogs. It's a different bunch" (SENIOR GOLFER, 4/2000).
