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Longtime PGA Tour star and World Golf Hall of Fame member Juan “Chi Chi” Rodriguez died Thursday, the league announced.
He was 88 years old.
“Chi Chi Rodriguez’s passion for charity and awareness was surpassed only by his incredible skill with a golf club in his hand,” said PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan. said in a statement. “A dynamic and colorful personality on and off the golf course, he will be greatly missed by the PGA Tour and those whose lives he touched in his mission to give back. The PGA Tour extends its deepest condolences to the entire Rodriguez family during this difficult time.
Rodriguez, who grew up in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, first learned to play golf by hitting cans with clubs while growing up on the island. After caddying as a teenager and spending two years in the military in the 1950s, Rodriguez joined the PGA Tour in 1960. Three years later, at the Denver Open Invitational in 1963, Rodriguez won his first victory.
Rodriguez won eight times during his Tour career, and he won 22 times on the PGA Tour Champions before largely retiring from playing after the 2004 campaign. He was a member of the 1973 Ryder Cup team and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1992. Rodriguez won the USGA Bob Jones Award in 1989 and was inducted into the World Humanitarian Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.
Although he only won eight times, Rodriguez was one of the most popular players on Tour, thanks in large part to his on-course antics, which included waving his club like a sword as part of a “matador routine”, dancing after making a putt and even imitating other players. He frequently dropped his hat on the cup after making a birdie putt “so the little birdie wouldn’t fly away”, although Commissioner Joseph Dey put a stop to this.
“People come and pay a lot of money to see golf,” Rodriguez said, via the PGA Tour. “I think they deserve something extra and I like to give it to them.”
After his playing days were over, Rodriguez spent time running his youth foundation in Florida and Puerto Rico, where he was a partner in a community golf project. He is survived by his longtime wife, Iwalani, and his daughter-in-law, Donnette.