PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Ed Fiori, who for 13 years was the one player to rally from a 54-hole deficit to beat Tiger Woods on the PGA Tour, died Sunday, the tour said on its website. He was 72.
The tour said Fiori had been battling cancer. It provided no other details.
A four-time winner on the PGA Tour, no victory was more memorable than the 1996 Quad City Classic, now the John Deere Classic. Three tournaments into his pro profession, a 20-year-old Woods had a one-shot lead over Fiori going into the ultimate round at Oakwood Country Club.
Woods had a quadruple bogey on the fourth hole and a four-putt double bogey on the seventh hole. He shot 72 to tie for fifth, 4 shots behind Fiori. Woods won two starts later in Las Vegas. He never lost a 54-hole lead in one other PGA Tour-sanctioned event until Y.E. Yang beat him within the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine.
Lee Westwood overcame a deficit to beat Woods in 2000 in a European tour event in Germany.
Fiori also beat two other Hall of Fame members in playoffs, Tom Weiskopf within the 1979 Southern Open and Tom Kite within the 1982 Bob Hope Classic.
“In three of his 4 wins on the PGA Tour, he dueled down the stretch with future World Golf Hall of Fame members, most notably Tiger Woods in 1996. That grit and determination within the face of immeasurable odds is incredibly admirable in every aspect of life, and I do know he battled cancer with that very same determination until the tip,” said Miller Brady, president of the PGA Tour Champions. “He will likely be missed by all of us on the tour.”
Fiori played only 58 times on the senior circuit after turn 50, winning in 2004 in Mexico.
“I held on for just a few more years, and played for some time on the senior tour, but my back was at all times an issue,” Fiori said in a 2019 interview with Golf.com “I had spinal fusion surgery in 2005, and from then on, I struggled to interrupt 80.
“Don’t feel sorry for me, though. I’ve had an important life in a game I like. It was never easy. A number of times, I used to be on that flight heading home on Friday nights,” he said. “But I might not trade it for anything. Even today, people call me the Tiger killer. They don’t at all times get their facts straight, but I don’t mind. I’ll always remember that weekend on the John Deere.”
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Ed Fiori, who for 13 years was the one player to rally from a 54-hole deficit to beat Tiger Woods on the PGA Tour, died Sunday, the tour said on its website. He was 72.
The tour said Fiori had been battling cancer. It provided no other details.
A four-time winner on the PGA Tour, no victory was more memorable than the 1996 Quad City Classic, now the John Deere Classic. Three tournaments into his pro profession, a 20-year-old Woods had a one-shot lead over Fiori going into the ultimate round at Oakwood Country Club.
Woods had a quadruple bogey on the fourth hole and a four-putt double bogey on the seventh hole. He shot 72 to tie for fifth, 4 shots behind Fiori. Woods won two starts later in Las Vegas. He never lost a 54-hole lead in one other PGA Tour-sanctioned event until Y.E. Yang beat him within the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine.
Lee Westwood overcame a deficit to beat Woods in 2000 in a European tour event in Germany.
Fiori also beat two other Hall of Fame members in playoffs, Tom Weiskopf within the 1979 Southern Open and Tom Kite within the 1982 Bob Hope Classic.
“In three of his 4 wins on the PGA Tour, he dueled down the stretch with future World Golf Hall of Fame members, most notably Tiger Woods in 1996. That grit and determination within the face of immeasurable odds is incredibly admirable in every aspect of life, and I do know he battled cancer with that very same determination until the tip,” said Miller Brady, president of the PGA Tour Champions. “He will likely be missed by all of us on the tour.”
Fiori played only 58 times on the senior circuit after turn 50, winning in 2004 in Mexico.
“I held on for just a few more years, and played for some time on the senior tour, but my back was at all times an issue,” Fiori said in a 2019 interview with Golf.com “I had spinal fusion surgery in 2005, and from then on, I struggled to interrupt 80.
“Don’t feel sorry for me, though. I’ve had an important life in a game I like. It was never easy. A number of times, I used to be on that flight heading home on Friday nights,” he said. “But I might not trade it for anything. Even today, people call me the Tiger killer. They don’t at all times get their facts straight, but I don’t mind. I’ll always remember that weekend on the John Deere.”
