Peter Alliss (28 February 1931 – 5 December 2020) was an English
professional golfer, television presenter, commentator, author and
golf course designer. Following the death of
Henry Longhurst in 1978, he was regarded by many as the "Voice of golf". In 2012 he was inducted into the
World Golf Hall of Fame in the Lifetime Achievement category.
Between 1952 and 1969, Alliss won 20 professional tournaments, including three
British PGA Championships, in 1957, 1962 and 1965. He had five top-10 finishes in the
Open Championship, coming closest in 1954 at
Royal Birkdale when he finished four shots behind the champion
Peter Thomson.
Alliss played on eight
Ryder Cup teams between 1953 and 1969 with a record of 10 wins, 15 losses and 5 halved matches. He played on Great Britain's victorious
1957 Ryder Cup Team. Peter and his father
Percy were the first father and son to both participate in and both win the Ryder Cup. Alliss also represented England in the
World Cup on 10 occasions.
Early life
Alliss's father
Percy was one of the leading British professional golfers in the 1920s and 1930s, winning many tournaments in Britain and Continental Europe. Peter Alliss was born in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
while his father was employed as a club professional at the
Wannsee Golf Club. He weighed at birth, reputed to be a European record at the time.
Peter had an older brother, Percy Alexander, known as Alec. Alec was born in 1924 and was also a professional golfer.
Percy returned from Germany in early 1932, when Peter was about a year old. Peter attended a private boarding school in the south of England
which he left at the age of 14, the minimum school leaving age.
Professional career
In 1946, Alliss played golf for England boys against Scotland, winning both his foursomes and singles matches. In the subsequent
Boys Amateur Championship, Alliss was the favourite but lost in the quarter-finals to Donald Dunstan from Manchester at the 19th hole.
Alliss turned professional in 1947, at the age of 16, as an assistant to his father at
Ferndown Golf Club in
Dorset
Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...
. Peter and Percy travelled to the
Royal Liverpool Golf Club in
Hoylake to play in the
1947 Open Championship. Peter scored 86 in his first qualifying round on the Championship course and failed to qualify. Percy also struggled on the Hoylake course and failed to qualify by a stroke after rounds of 74 and 82.
In 1948, Alliss impressed in the
Coombe Hill Assistants' Tournament but came to more prominence in the
Manchester Evening Chronicle Tournament where his 69 was the only score under 70 on the final day. He finished tied for 9th and won the assistants' prize. He also won the assistant's prize in the West of England Championship. The
PGA Assistants' Championship was restarted in 1949 and Alliss finished tied for 2nd place, five strokes behind
Harry Weetman, 10 years his senior.
From June 1949 to June 1951, Alliss served two years'
National Service in the
RAF Regiment. This limited his golfing activities although he did play in a few tournaments during this period.
In 1952, Alliss finished tied for 5th place in the
Coombe Hill Assistants' Tournament, qualifying him for the
Gor-Ray Cup, the Assistants' Championship, from 20 to 22 May. He won three of his four matches comfortably but only beat John Vamplew at the 21st hole in the quarter-finals. In the 36-hole final he beat Tony Harman 5&4.
Alliss had a slow start to the 1953 season but had a good July, finishing tied for 9th in the
Open Championship and third in the
Irish Open. In mid-August, Alliss was included in a group of 17 from which the
Ryder Cup team would be chosen. The
PGA arranged a series of trial matches at Wentworth starting on 23 September, and Alliss performed well enough that he was included in the team which was announced on 26 September. Alliss was just 22 years old, the second youngest British Ryder Cup player at that time, a few months older than
Henry Cotton in
1929. Alliss was paired with
Harry Weetman in the opening day foursomes but lost 2&1. Late on the final day, all matches had been completed except for the two singles matches involving Alliss against
Jim Turnesa and 23-year-old
Bernard Hunt against
Dave Douglas. The British team needed 1½ points from these two matches to win the Ryder Cup or a point to tie. Alliss had gone 1 up at the 14th but he 3-putted the 15th while Turnesa got down in two from a bunker. Alliss then went out of bounds at the 17th to give Turnesa the lead. Turnesa was in the trees at the last and still short of the green in 3. However, Alliss, just off the green in 2, fluffed his chip, and eventually halved the hole in 6, to guarantee that the USA would retain the Ryder Cup. In the final match, at the 18th, Bernard Hunt missed a 4-foot putt that he needed to hole to win his match and so the USA won 6½ to 5½.
Alliss's first major success came in the 1954
Daks Tournament at
Little Aston Golf Club. On the final day he was drawn with Bernard Hunt in the first pair out. Alliss scored 70 in the morning round and 67 in the afternoon.
Bobby Locke, the eventual runner-up, was able to see Alliss finishing his final round before he started his own. Three hours after Alliss had finished, Locke need a 4 at the last to tie with Alliss. However, he put his second into a bunker at the front of the green and took 5. Alliss and Hunt had taken 4 hours and 10 minutes for their two rounds of the 6,681 yards course. Alliss said: "We took all the time we wanted to play our shots, but we walked smartly between the strokes." Two weeks later, in the
1954 Open Championship, Alliss improved on his 1953 performance, finishing tied for 8th place. The season ended with Alliss playing for the British Isles against the Rest of Europe in the inaugural
Joy Cup.
In early 1955, Alliss travelled to the USA and played in a number of events there. On his return he missed the cut in the
Spalding Tournament but then won the 5-round
Dunlop Tournament at Wentworth. After this win Alliss had a disappointing season and although he finished tied for 5th in the
Dunlop Masters, he was not chosen for the Ryder Cup team. Alliss had not been in the top 7 in the Order of Merit after the Open Championship and was relying on being one of the three selections after the Dunlop Masters. 1956 was a relatively disappointing year, although the year ended on a high note when he won the
Spanish Open by 6 strokes at the new course at Real Club de Golf El Prat.
1957 started with Alliss moving from Ferndown to nearby
Parkstone Golf Club, where he was appointed full professional, following the death of
Reg Whitcombe. The year was much more successful than 1956. In early April he won the
PGA Close Championship in
Llandudno
Llandudno (, ) is a seaside resort, town and community (Wales), community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 UK census, the community � ...
by 3 strokes. Later in the month, he finished second in the
Spalding Tournament and in May he was tied for second in the
Swallow-Penfold Tournament. He was third in the
Yorkshire Evening News Tournament in June and tied for 12th in the
1957 Open Championship. Qualification rules for the
1957 Ryder Cup had been changed and covered the whole of the 1956 season, ending with the 1957 Open. After his disappointing 1956 Alliss started 1957 in 18th place but his good season lifted him to 5th, earning him a place in the team. His good form continued with a joint-second in the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
and another second place in the
Dunlop Masters. Alliss finished second in the Order of Merit with a stroke average of 71.21, behind
Eric Brown on 70.99. The Ryder Cup ended in a rare victory for the British team, although Alliss lost both his matches and was the only British player to lose his singles.
In October 1958, Alliss won the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese Opens in three successive weeks.
His first round of 63 in the 1961 British PGA Championship was a tournament record at the time and remained the joint-lowest round in the tournament until
Robert Karlsson's round of 62 in 2010.
Alliss's competitive career was almost over by the time the
European Tour was formally established in 1972, but he played in some events in the Tour's early years, making his last appearance on the tour in 1974.
Broadcasting career
His first television work was for the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
at the 1961 Open Championship, when he was still a golfer who had competed in the tournament. After his retirement as a player, Alliss worked full-time in television, becoming the lead BBC golf commentator in 1978.
Alliss gave
Sean Connery golf lessons before the filming of the 1964 James Bond film ''
Goldfinger'', which involved a scene where Connery, as Bond, played golf against gold magnate
Auric Goldfinger at
Stoke Park Golf Club in Buckinghamshire.
[ The lessons started a lifelong love of playing golf for Connery.
Alliss also worked for ]ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
and ABC Sports in the United States from 1975 through 2010. He continued to appear as a guest analyst on ESPN's coverage of the Open Championship from 2011 to 2015.
As well as being a commentator for the BBC, Alliss also worked part-time for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...
, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...
. He was widely regarded as the best known golf broadcaster in Britain. He hosted a total of 140 ''Pro Celebrity Golf'' TV programmes.
Between 1979 and 1986 Alliss hosted 7 series of ''Around with Alliss'', initially broadcast on BBC2
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...
. Each series consisted of 6 programmes in which Alliss played a few holes of golf and chatted with a variety of famous people on a number of courses in the UK.
In 1997 the format was revived for a six-part television series called ''A Golfer's Travels''. This series featured Alliss in a variety of locations around the world.
Alliss was also involved in golf course architecture. His first course design partner was Dave Thomas, with whom he created over 50 courses, including The Belfry, which has staged the Ryder Cup several times and is now the home of the Professional Golfers' Association. Alliss then joined forces with Clive Clark, and added another 22 courses to his portfolio (including Old Thorns Golf Course in Hampshire). He was the Club President at Old Thorns Golf Club in Hampshire and also at Castlemartyr Links Golf Club in Cork, Ireland.
Alliss became captain of the Professional Golfers' Association for the second time in 1987. He was also the president of the British Greenkeepers' Association, and was the first president of the European Women's Professional Golfers' Association.
In 2002, Alliss was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by Bournemouth University. In 2003, Alliss published an illustrated book, ''Peter Alliss's Golf Heroes'', which won the 'Best Illustrated Book' category of the British Sports Book Awards. In July 2005, he was honoured by the University of St Andrews, shortly before The Open Golf Championship, with the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
In 2012, Alliss was chosen to receive the Golf Foundation's 'Spirit of Golf award' not only in recognition of the way he had made the sport entertaining in the eyes of young people, but also for the support he had given to junior golf and his commitment to the Golf Foundation over many years.
Alliss revealed that in 1993 he turned down an appointment as Officer of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(OBE) for services to golf.
In 2014, Alliss helped to create and provide commentary on the video flyovers of all five course layouts of a favourite classic links course at Seaton Carew Golf Club in North East England, and commented during these programmes that the Seaton links were "the tenth oldest in England and a true championship links to challenge all levels of players."
Alliss was a patron of the Wildlife Ark Trust, which is committed to the conservation in the UK of the red squirrel and the water vole.
Criticism of players
In 1999, Alliss received criticism from sections of the British media for scathing comments he made when Jean van de Velde folded in the Open Championship at Carnoustie. The Frenchman had a triple-bogey seven on the final hole when he only needed a double-bogey six to win the Open. During his commentary, Alliss branded Jean van de Velde's actions as "totally ridiculous" and said he was guilty of "pure madness". Some critics accused Alliss of being "curmudgeonly", to which he responded that "...it certainly wasn't my intention".
Alliss is reported to have previously had a frosty relationship with Nick Faldo, after Faldo was infuriated at Alliss describing him as "a typical only child". However, Alliss and Faldo later went on to work together at ABC Sports from 2004 to 2007, and again as part of the BBC's broadcast commentary team for the 2012 Open Championship.
In May 2008, Alliss was involved in a heated exchange of views with English golfer Nick Dougherty over the course conditions at Wentworth Club during the BMW PGA Championship. After Alliss had spoken out in his commentary against the poor scoring from players and their complaints over the condition of the Wentworth greens, Dougherty accused Alliss of "disgusting commentary" and of being "out of touch". Dougherty said: "I wish we could have taken him out there and shown him how difficult it was." Alliss responded by accusing Dougherty and his generation of being "delicate", "thin-skinned", and unable to take constructive criticism.
In a 2011 interview, Alliss criticised Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...
, saying: "The aura has gone. He used to be nicer and he became grumpy. He hasn't done anything to recapture the public's affection." Alliss said that he doesn't believe that Woods will surpass Jack Nicklaus
Jack William Nicklaus (; born January 21, 1940), nicknamed "the Golden Bear", is an American retired professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greate ...
's record of 18 major championships.[ A year earlier, in 2010, Alliss said of Woods: "I think his father has a lot to do with how Tiger is. His father was a frightening bully."]
During the 2013 Open Championship at Muirfield, Alliss criticised Ian Poulter for making what he said were "childish comments" after his opening round of 72 in the tournament. Poulter said some of the pin positions were a "joke" and the 18th needed a "windmill and a clown face", like a crazy golf course. Alliss responded by saying: "Poulter's remarks are just childish. You can't say stuff about windmills and clown's faces. It's just ridiculous. I never heard Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer come out with comments like that. A lot of others give up before they even get going. It's a PhD not an O-level."
Personal life
Alliss was first married in 1953 to Joan McGuinness. They had two children, Gary (born 1954) and Carol (born 1960). In 1972, Alliss married his second wife, Jackie. With Jackie, Alliss had two daughters, Sara and Victoria and two sons, Simon and Henry. Victoria was born severely disabled and died at the age of 11. Gary is a professional golfer and teacher and was captain of the Great Britain and Ireland PGA Cup team in 2007 and 2009.
For over 30 years Alliss lived in the village of Hindhead in Surrey, in a large house set in five acres of land. In 2010, at the age of 79, Alliss said that he was still able to shoot a golf score under his age (fewer shots than 79).
Death
Alliss died on 5 December 2020, aged 89 at his home in Surrey, England. His death was described as "unexpected but peaceful". Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport
BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...
, said: "Peter was the voice of golf. He transcended the sport as one of its greatest broadcasters of his generation."
Professional wins (31)
British PGA circuit wins (15)
British PGA circuit Playoff record (1–1)
Continental European wins
Other wins (12)
''this list is probably incomplete''
*1956 West of England Professional Championship
*1958 Sunningdale Foursomes (with Jean Donald), West of England Professional Championship
*1959 Wentworth Foursomes (with Harold Ridgley)
*1961 Sunningdale Foursomes (with Jean Anderson), Strong Country Tournament, Brazil Open
*1962 West of England Professional Championship, Strong Country Tournament
*1963 Strong Country Tournament
*1964 Strong Country Tournament
*1966 West of England Professional Championship
Source:
Results in major championships
''Note: Alliss only played in the Masters Tournament and The Open Championship
The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...
.''
CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = Withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Team appearances
* Ryder Cup (representing Great Britain): 1953
Events
January
* January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma.
* January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo.
* January 14
** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...
, 1957 (winners), 1959, 1961, 1963
Events January
* January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...
, 1965
Events January–February
* January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years.
* January 20
** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...
, 1967, 1969 (tie)
* World Cup (representing England): 1954, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962
The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War.
Events January
* January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...
, 1964, 1966
Events January
* January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko.
* January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...
, 1967
* Joy Cup (representing the British Isles): 1954 (winners), 1955 (winners), 1956 (winners), 1958 (winners)
* Amateurs–Professionals Match (representing the Professionals): 1957 (winners), 1958, 1959 (winners)
* R.T.V. International Trophy (representing England): 1967 (winners, captain)
References
External links
*
*
BBC Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alliss, Peter
English male golfers
European Tour golfers
Ryder Cup competitors for Europe
British golf commentators
Golf writers
British golf course architects
World Golf Hall of Fame inductees
English sports broadcasters
BBC sports presenters and reporters
Sportspeople from Berlin
People from Hindhead
1931 births
2020 deaths