WHEN Peter Alliss was inducted in the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2012, he accepted the honour with his customarily entertaining and self-deprecating style.
“I’ve really done very little in my life – just waffled along, loving the game of golf and being observant, and things have always just come my way”, he said. “ .... all of these wonderful things have just fallen into my lap”.
Alliss, who has died at the age of 89, was in his time one of the world’s top professional golfers, winning more than 20 tournaments and featuring in no fewer than eight Ryder Cups, between 1953 and 1969, and 10 World Cups.
Alliss, who is pictured here at the Dalmahoy Senior Service golf tournament in July 1965, was born on the outskirts of Berlin, the son of Percy Alliss, a well-known golfer who played in three Ryder Cups. He won his first title in 1952, and the following year tied for ninth place in the Open at Carnoustie.
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He competed in The Open on 24 occasions, achieving top-10 finishes in 1953, 1954, 1961, 1962 and 1969. In 1958 he won three successive national Opens, in Italy, Spain and Portugal, pocketing the then-considerable sum of £1,154 in prize money.
His golfing career over, he embarked on a second career, as one of our best-known sports commentators.
His first stint in front of the microphone came at the 1961 Open at Royal Birkdale; seven years later he was appointed as the BBC’s chief golf commentator, succeeding his great friend and mentor, Henry Longhurst.
As The Open website recounts, “A long and successful broadcasting career blossomed for Alliss and he become renowned not only for his deep knowledge and insight into golf but also his dry wit and humorous, often self-deprecating anecdotes from his many years in the game”.
Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A , said: “Golf commentary will never be the same again after the passing of Peter Alliss ... his voice was part of so many of the great moments in the sport’s history”.
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