Letter to Peter Alliss

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Peter Alliss, during commentary from Carnoustie, read out a letter he had been sent from a viewer.  The viewer had asked whether the Open might be staged at St Mellion (the Jack Nicklaus course in Cornwall).  Alliss was very polite about it and didn't berate the writer, but simply said that he very much doubted that the Open would be held there.  So, should we write in to suggest that the Open be held at....?  Your suggestions in the spirit of the St Mellion letter, please.  

[BCrosby]

Mark -

I assume he chose to read the letter for purposes of making a little inside joke. I would have loved to have heard Alliss's reply. Only an Englishman can pull off a tone that combines light humor and lethal condescension.

Bob    

[Mark Bourgeois]

Dear Mr alliss,

Royal county down!

Cheers,
Mark

[cary lichtenstein]

I have listen to Peter Alliss for 3 days now, and he is very funny. So of the remarks that have come out of his mouth are priceless

[Tim Copeland]

Mark -

I assume he chose to read the letter for purposes of making a little inside joke. I would have loved to have heard Alliss's reply. Only an Englishman can pull off a tone that combines light humor and lethal condescension.

Bob    

In America its called being an asshole.  I do it all the time

[Jon Wiggett]

Tim,

maybe the terms subtle and polite should also have been in Bob's reply. Your american asshole has neither of these although qualities although I have had the pleasure of knowing quite a few who did.

As a good friend of mine once told me 'asshole is not an attitude, its a way of life'. Maybe your just mixing with the wrong people.

[Dan Kelly]

Your suggestions in the spirit of the St Mellion letter, please.  

I'd rather you ask him why he was such an insufferable, pompous know-it-all in the piece on poor Monsieur Van de Velde that ABC showed this afternoon.

He's had eight years to come up with something more interesting than ridicule -- and he failed to do so.

I love Van de Velde. As funny as he is sometimes, you can have Alliss.

Bravo to Nick Faldo for calling the piece "harsh." It was.

[Bob_Huntley]

Your suggestions in the spirit of the St Mellion letter, please.  

I'd rather you ask him why he was such an insufferable, pompous know-it-all in the piece on poor Monsieur Van de Velde that ABC showed this afternoon.

He's had eight years to come up with something more interesting than ridicule -- and he failed to do so.

I love Van de Velde. As funny as he is sometimes, you can have Alliss.

Bravo to Nick Faldo for calling the piece "harsh." It was.

Dan,

You are spot on. All I can say about Alliss is that he has had a wonderful ride on the telly for such a paucity of golfing accomplishments. I bought a book of his once and found his so called sense of humour to be infantile. References to hidden condoms and binge drinking were  less than funny.


For a guy who had the nerves of a shell shocked veteran when it came to puting in later life, should have had just a tad more sympathy for van der Velde.

[K. Krahenbuhl]

Dear Mr alliss,

Royal county down!

Cheers,
Mark

x2...I would love to see this.

Will the Walker Cup be broadcast at all in the states this year?

[Paul_Turner]

So now even Alliss gets mauled on GCA  He was actually a decent player.

[Bill_McBride]

So now even Alliss gets mauled on GCA  He was actually a decent player.

Plus he designed a modern course (Brocket Hall) that has two fairways (#3 and #16) that intersect at virtually right angles across a wide river!   Most amazing routing I've ever seen.  

[Kevin Pallier]

RCD

In a dream - I'd like to watch the pros go around a Royal Dornoch or North Berwick....

[Jon Wiggett]

Kevin,

next time the Open is at Muirfield, North Berwick will probably be one of the final qualifying. Go and watch it, believe me those boys can really play and its great fun to watch them try to deal with the quirk.

[Noel Freeman]

Sandwich would be slated to get the Open in 2013.. So if Deal would get a crack at it, it would be that year in essence taking Sandwich's place.. This is total conjecture on my part and I don't think the old boys at RSG would really care.. Deal's renewal and rebirth is pretty much going to be done after this year and Peter Dawson is quite keen on it.. I'm not saying it will get the Open (in a selfish way I'm hoping it doesnt because I'd prefer it to be somewhat hidden).. That said, I can say it will get a Walker Cup, Amateur or Ladies/Senior Open sometime if the Championship does not come back, its status in the R&A has rises tremendously.. Maybe as a warm up for an Open in 2023!

[Mark Chaplin]

Noel - I'm thinking more 2017-2019 for a Deal Open if we pass muster with the R&A.

An Open every 5 years at TOC, the North West (Hoylake, Birkdale, RL&StA), West Scotland (Turnberry & RT), East Scotland (HCEG & Carnoustie) plus the south east of England (RStG & Deal) makes business sense as well as bringing the event to the regions on a regular basis. The corporate business for a south east Open 90 minutes from London by car or rail must be a very lucrative.

[Mark Buzminski]

An Open at Royal Dornoch would be fabulous.

[Tom_Doak]

Kevin and John:

I was in North Berwick this afternoon and went by the course, which is holding qualifying for the Senior Open today ... a beautiful summer day, warm and with a modest easterly breeze.  So far there are only two scores under par out of 60 or 70 ... I did not get out to see how difficult the hole locations are, but the rough is thick after the wet summer weather.

[Wayne_Kozun]

An Open at Royal Dornoch would be fabulous.

I agree but I don't think the logistics work, unless the R&A was willing to substantially reduce the scale of the event for a year.

[Matthew Hunt]

Will the Walker Cup be broadcast at all in the states this year?

On NBC or ABC I think.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Kevin and John:

I was in North Berwick this afternoon and went by the course, which is holding qualifying for the Senior Open today ... a beautiful summer day, warm and with a modest easterly breeze.  So far there are only two scores under par out of 60 or 70 ... I did not get out to see how difficult the hole locations are, but the rough is thick after the wet summer weather.

The last time Faldo won at Muirfield my club pro, Steve Cipa, qualified at North Berwick with a 65.  He was tied with another pro (More famous but name escapes me) and an Amateur went through with a 63.  

[JohnV]

Will the Walker Cup be broadcast at all in the states this year?

The Golf Channel will show it on Saturday Sept 8 and another 2 hours on Sunday Sept 9 from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM each night.

According to the USGA Media Guide they will be showing the singles matches.

[Andrew Summerell]

I actually assumed Mark’s original question required a more ‘tongue in cheek’ response than most have given.

So with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, I would suggest either The Duke’s course or the Devlin course at St Andrew’s Bay.

[K. Krahenbuhl]

Will the Walker Cup be broadcast at all in the states this year?

The Golf Channel will show it on Saturday Sept 8 and another 2 hours on Sunday Sept 9 from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM each night.

According to the USGA Media Guide they will be showing the singles matches.

Thanks John.

[Joel_Stewart]

While watching the Senior British Open today Peter Alliss gave a nice plug for the two new courses by Muirfield, Archerfield and Renissance Club.  

[Mark_Rowlinson]

My original thought was not particularly tongue-in-cheek.  It was quite clear that Peter did not expect the Open to forsake its traditional venues, but he was polite enough not to dismiss the sender of the e-mail or whatever it was as a cad and bounder.  I think the way he handled it was charming.  In other words, he did not blow someone up for having a view different from his - many GCA regulars please take note - yet he was able to dismiss the idea without saying that St Mellion is a load of rubbish, which it isn't.   It's by far the most interesting Nicklaus course in the UK, but we all know it isn't a potential Open Course - so does Peter - but he was courteous and in no way condescending to someone for making the suggestion.  

Now, I think the Open should be held at The Befry.....