Peter Alliss

Peter Alliss

Peter Alliss was an English professional golfer, television presenter, commentator, author and golf course designer. Between 1952 and 1969, Alliss won 20 professional tournaments, including three British PGA Championships, in 1957, 1962 and 1965. 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.

About Peter Alliss in brief

Summary Peter AllissPeter Alliss was an English professional golfer, television presenter, commentator, author and golf course designer. Between 1952 and 1969, Alliss won 20 professional tournaments, including three British PGA Championships, in 1957, 1962 and 1965. 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. 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. He also represented England in the World Cup on 10 occasions. In 2012 he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in the Lifetime Achievement category. Peter 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 had an older brother, Percy Alexander, known as Alec. Alec was born in 1924 and was also a pro golfer. Peter attended a private boarding school in the south of England which he left at the age of 14, the minimum school leaving age. Peter played golf for England boys against Scotland in 1946, winning both his foursomes and singles matches. In 1946, he was the favourite for the Boys Amateur Championship but lost in the quarter-finals to Donald Dunstan from Manchester at the 19th hole.

Peter scored 86 in his first qualifying round on the Championship course and failed to qualify. He turned professional in 1947, at the aged of 16, as an assistant to his father at Ferndown Golf Club in Dorset. In 1948, he finished tied for 9th in the Manchester Evening Chronicle Tournament where his 69 was the only score under 70 on the final day. In 1952, he won the assistants’ prize in the Coombe Hill Assistants’ Tournament, qualifying him for the Gor-Ray Cup, the Assistants’ Championship, from 20 to 22 May. In the 36-hole final he beat Tony Harman 5&4. From June 1949 to June 1951, he served two years’ National Service in the RAF. This limited his golfing activities although he did play in a few tournaments during this period. In 1953, he had a slow start to the 1953 season but had a good July, finishing tied for 7th in The Open Championship and third in the Irish Open. He was the second youngest British Ryder Cup player at that time, a few months older than Henry Cotton in 1929. He won the PGA Assistant’s Championship in 1952 and 1953 and finished 2nd place, five strokes behind Harry Weetman, 10 years his senior, in 1949 and 1953. In 1954, he beat John Vamplew at the 21st hole in the 16th hole in a 36- hole final. He went 1 up at the 15th but he got down in two from a bunker.