Peter Alliss
Before reporting on the weekend golf I must pay my tribute to Peter Alliss.
I admire anyone who has two successful careers, most of us cannot manage one, but Peter Alliss was both successful golfer and broadcaster.
As a golfer I would classify him as very good. Not a great though he might have been if he could putt more reliably.
Still he won twenty one times on the European tour till the yips persuaded him to try his hand at commentary.
Unbelievably he was doing this till a few weeks ago aged 89 at the Masters.
His style was whimsical and he had the great gift – rare nowadays – not just of capturing the moment but conveying it into your TV room.
He was not everybody’s cup of tea – some golfers found him too critical – and he was certainly non-PC but he was a character.
Some ten years ago I was invited to the 50th anniversary of Coombe Hill Golf Club celebrated with a dinner and dance.
Peter Alliss was guest of honour.
Clubs like Coombe Hill in Kingston, Hartsbourne in Bushey and Potters Bar were founded as Jewish golf clubs after the War as membership was disgracefully denied to the apparently not-to-be- chosen people to many other clubs.
They were often run by a hardheaded businessman like Joe Stillitz at Hartsbourne but they gave two benefits to golf.
First they effectively sponsored a professional such as Bernard Hunt (Hartsbourne), Neil Coles and Ken Bousfield (Coombe Hill) or Tony Jacklin (Potters Bar).
In those days an aspiring pro needed the income from golf lessons and the pro golf shop but equally the club’s image benefited by association with the pro’s success.
Secondly, Harsbourne and Coombe Hill hosted the young assistant tournament that was the launch pad of many a golfer including Peter Alliss.
Peter Alliss gave a superb speech at that dance.
He brought the house down in recalling his triple run of successes in 1958 at the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese championships.
In the Italian at Varese he went into the final day sharing the lead with Ken Bousfield.
Ken had become friendly with a night club singer in the hotel and on the final day too tired to compete with Alliss.
Much the same happened in Spain with both sharing the lead. Then the night club singer turned up. “I was never more delighted to see anyone “ laughed Alliss.
In telling the story Alliss underplayed the achievement of 3 consecutive wins. He survived the recent culls of senior sporting commentators at the BBC as he was quite simply the “Voice of Golf”.
Not everyone wants to hear the latest on social media or be bombarded with stats but respond to humour, whimsy and a passion for golf that were his hallmarks.
The main golf event of the weekend was the Mexican Open at Mayakoba won by the young Norwegian Victor Hovlund.
Carlos Ortiz finishing in top 8 saved my bacon on an each-way wager.
Christan Benadenzuit made it 2 in a row, winning in South Africa but everything was overshadowed by the passing of Peter Alliss.
We will not see his like again.
