Roundup: R.I.P. Peter Alliss 1931-2020

Peter Alliss got away with things no one other broadcaster could. He’d grunt, gargle, mock, violate the “norms” of broadcasting and when Alliss turned serious, you knew the tournament was about to be decided. For this American viewer, he joined a cast of legends that marked the Golden Age of golf television and every year at The Open, Alliss’ solo stints were always a highlight of the championship. And it was his general gravitas and light touch that made an otherwise slow sport worth watching.

“The Great Man” was far more than a broadcaster, however, with a Royal Air Force stint, over thirty professional wins, two European Tour Vardon trophies, books (illustrated, fiction and non) and his proudest accomplishment, a long Ryder Cup run including playing on the same team as his father Percy.

He would undoubtedly have loved seeing the start of Reuters’ obituary:

Former Ryder Cup player Peter Alliss, who won 31 tournaments in his career before a successful stint as a commentator in which he was referred to as the "voice of golf," has died at the age of 89, the European Tour said on Sunday.

From Ewan Murray’s excellent Guardian obituary:

Alliss, a former professional player who first undertook broadcasting duties in 1961, became the lead man for the corporation’s golf coverage 17 years later. He was widely depicted as the voice of golf.

In a statement released on Sunday, Alliss’s family explained the father of six’s death was “unexpected but peaceful”. Alliss had delivered television commentary for the BBC during the Masters just last month, from his home in Surrey. He had been expected to retire after next year’s Ryder Cup, thereby completing what would have been a remarkable six decades in the commentary booth.

Alliss was synonymous with the BBC where he worked as recently as November’s Masters, as noted in this unbylined remembrance.

“Peter was the voice of golf. He was an absolute master of his craft with a unique ability to capture a moment with a magical turn of phrase that no one else could match,” said Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport.

As a player, Alliss won 31 tournaments and he and his father Percy were the first father-son duo to compete in the Ryder Cup, when it was a contest between Great Britain and the United States.

In 2012, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in the Lifetime Achievement category.

After retiring from playing golf – in a professional sense, at least – Alliss moved into the commentary booth, where his descriptive and dead-pan style became the soundtrack to the BBC’s coverage of major golf events.

“His inimitable tone, humour and command of the microphone will be sorely missed. His often legendary commentaries will be long remembered,” said the BBC.

From BBC’s Iain Carter touching remembrance:

Weighing 14 pounds 11 ounces, he was believed to have been Europe's heaviest baby at the time. He left school aged 14 and devoted himself to the game of golf, playing for the England boys team in 1946.

A year later his went to his first Open after travelling with his father to Royal Liverpool.

"I was obviously excited," he told me earlier this year. "The journey up on the train, going to Bournemouth from Ferndown.

"We went on the bus with golf clubs and suitcases and everyone looked at us as if were mad. 'What the hell have you got in that bag?' Then the train up to London and up to Chester and then we had a bus along to Hoylake."

The youngster was somewhat overwhelmed and failed to qualify, but went on to post five top 10s in 24 appearances between 1951 and 1974.

From the Associated Press’ tribute:

With his deep and soothing voice, warm humor and passion for golf, Alliss may have been more renowned as a commentator than a player. Golf Digest once called Alliss ''the greatest golf commentator ever.''

Alliss made his broadcasting debut in 1961 as part of the BBC team covering The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale and became the British channel's main commentator in 1978. He also called big tournaments in the United States, Canada and Australia.

Among his many witty one-liners was this classic from 2002 when Tiger Woods shot 81 in The Open: ''It's like turning up to hear Pavarotti sing and finding out he has laryngitis.''

From Phil Davison’s Washington Post obit:

Mr. Alliss’s popularity as a commentator for nearly 60 years was largely due to his reassuring, dulcet voice, his knowledge of the game and its history, and his wry, deadpan humor, which sometimes generated controversy.

To some viewers, he sounded like a genial grandpa smoking a pipe and wearing slippers by the fireside. “When it comes to painting a picture with words,” a correspondent for the Daily Telegraph once wrote, “he’s nothing short of Rembrandt.”

Mary Hannigan with this nice roundup of that one liner and many more.

From John Huggan’s GolfDigest.com look at the life and times of Alliss:

What often gets overlooked as he became more and more famous for his work with a microphone in hand was how good a player Peter Alliss was. Renowned for the smoothness and elegance of his full swing—and, later, terrible putting (the number plate on his car read ‘PUT3’) marked by a dreadful bout of the yips that, he claimed, began on the 11th green at Augusta National during a Masters—he twice played Arnold Palmer in Ryder Cup singles and finished unbeaten.

“I have a very good Ryder Cup record, mostly because of my fear of losing,” said Alliss, who went 10-15-5 on teams that went just 1-6-1. “I always had the attitude that ‘you weren’t going to beat me.’ I believe you play the man, not the course. I played Arnold three times when he was at his peak and the only one I lost was a foursome. I beat him once and halved with him in singles. I also beat Billy Casper, Gay Brewer and Ken Venturi at various times, and halved with Tony Lema.”

From Michael Bamberger’s tribute at Golf.com:

Alliss knew his way around all parts of your better dinner menus and wine lists. He was a large man who lived large. The license plate on his Rolls Royce read PUT 3. Late in the day, he was afflicted with the yips, and he had more than his share of three-putt greens. What saved him was his sense of humor, and his talking ease. Hit it, Alice, a common and mildly sexist phrase for putts that do not reach the hole, began, Peter Alliss would sometimes suggest, with him talking to himself: “Hit it, Alliss.”

Alliss turned pro at 15 and went to work for his father at Ferndown Golf Club. Adam Schupak has a spectacular story from his early days here at Golfweek.com.

Rick Broadbent with The Times obituary (behind paywall).

Golf Channel’s feature on the life and times of Alliss:

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His World Golf Hall of Fame speech just seven years ago, a special night indeed…