(Reuters) - Former golfer Juan Antonio "Chi Chi" Rodriguez, regarded as the greatest Puerto Rican golfer of all time, has died at 88, the Puerto Rico Golf Association said on Thursday.
Rodriguez won eight PGA Tour events between 1963 and 1979, as well as 22 senior tour titles. He became the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1992. He was known for his showmanship and philanthropy.
"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."
Born into poverty, Rodriguez became a labourer at age seven, before taking up a job as a caddie at a golf club. He started playing golf with a branch of a guava tree, and became a professional in 1960 at age 25 after serving in the U.S. army.
"After great shots, fans would marvel at his signature 'sword dance' when Rodriguez would wield a golf club and thrust his 'sword' back into its imaginary scabbard along his belt," the PGA Tour wrote on their website.
Rodriguez established a charity organisation, Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation in Clearwater, Florida, with the aim to help young people who were victims of abuse.
"Why do I love kids so much? Because I was never a kid myself," Rodriguez said. "I was too poor to really have a childhood."
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; editing by Miral Fahmy)
