Juan ‘Chi Chi’ Rodriguez, longtime PGA Tour star and Hall of Famer, dies at 88

Juan “Chi Chi” Rodriguez, seen here in 2007, died on Thursday in Puerto Rico. He was 88. (Michael Cohen/Getty Images)

Longtime PGA Tour star and World Golf Hall of Famer Juan “Chi Chi” Rodriguez died Thursday, the league announced.

He was 88.

“Chi Chi Rodriguez’s passion for charity and outreach was surpassed only by his incredible talent with a golf club in his hand,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement. “A vibrant, colorful personality both on and off the golf course, he will be missed dearly by the PGA Tour and those whose lives he touched in his mission to give back. The PGA Tour sends its deepest condolences to the entire Rodriguez family during this difficult time.”

Rodriguez, who grew up in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, first learned how to golf by hitting tin cans with sticks while growing up on the island. After caddying as a teenager and a two-year stint in the Army in the 1950s, Rodriguez joined the PGA Tour in 1960. Three years later, at the Denver Open Invitational in 1963, Rodriguez picked up his first win.

Rodriguez won eight times in his career on Tour, and he won 22 times on the PGA Tour Champions before he largely retired from playing after the 2004 campaign. He was a member of the 1973 Ryder Cup team, and he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1992. Rodriguez won the USGA’s Bob Jones Award in 1989, and was inducted into the World Humanitarian Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.

Though he won only eight times, Rodriguez was one of the most popular players on Tour thanks largely to his on-course antics — which included waiving his club around like a sword as part of a “matador routine,” dancing after making a putt and even imitating other players. He’d frequently drop his hat over the cup after sinking a birdie putt “so the little birdie won’t fly away,” though commissioner Joseph Dey put a stop to that.

“The people come out and pay good 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 ended, Rodriguez spent time running his youth foundation in Florida and in Puerto Rico where he was a partner in a golf community project. He is survived by his longtime wife, Iwalani, and his stepdaughter, Donnette.