Peter Alliss & Sandy Lyle- Golf Hall of Fame

Peter Alliss and Sady Lyle inducted into Golf Hal of Fame:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/golf/article-2074570/Sandy-Lyle-Peter-Alliss-Hall-Fame.html

Peter Alliss - a truly magical commentator. Enhances the entertainment of watching the Open. Deserves his place. Just a couple of my favourite quotes from the great man:

Of a shot Tiger played into 13th green in Agusta one year
"A bit like Kate Winslett, A little bit heavy, almost perfect!" (It's an old one, originally said about Elizabeth Taylor.)

Of Tiger, spotted smiling one day "My God. If I had teeth like that, I'd smile all day!"

Of Freddy Couples and his languid style, "If Golfers were dogs, Freddy Couples would be a Labrador!"

Glad to see Sandy in there, I think him winning the Masters with that shot at the last will always live in my memory.

I see Lyle received 53% of the votes cast, Montgomerie 44%, Swampy Marsh 27%, Woosie 26%, Goosen 22%.

Richly deserved by Allis and Lyle, but hope time doesn't run out for Norman Van Nida who has done so much for Australian Golf. Aussies getting short shrift at the WGHOF so far.

Kwinni

Agree with you re. Von Nida, he put Austrailian golf on the map.
My Uncle beat Von Nida in the old News of the World matchplay, he lost in turn to Laurie Ayton who went on to lose in the final.
Lyle won two majors as I belive 'irongloves' brother. Perhaps the golfing Marsh should be recognised better.

Seems Ken Venturi (for many of the same reasons they selected Allis + one Major + a very near miss as an amateur + Pres Cup Captaincy) and Von Nida are glaring omissions. Perhaps not politically correct to induct Aussies. Strange they should have included Loren Roberts on the ballot, but not David Graham, for instance.

No Majors for Swampy, except Senior US Open I think. Supposed to be a great bloke however!

I remember watching Graham Marsh practising at an Open Championship (in the pre-metal mickey days when proper game skills were required ) and, as he worked his way through the bag up to the longer clubs, his caddie never had to take more than one step to either side of him in order to catch the ball with the baseball glove he was wearing.

Mind you, much to Marsh's (amused) annoyance, it was the caddie who got the applause!

Doon, who was your uncle?

Laurie Ayton was a pretty well known name. He lost his best years to WWII I think.

kwini ... I wonder if Lyle would happily swap HOF for an RC captaincy!

Gael,

I've seen a few caddies catching balls with baseball mitts. I remember Tip Anderson catching Arnold Palmer's long iron shots first bounce at various Opens. Over 200 yards and he didn't take more than a couple of steps to the side.

Other I saw do it were Graham Marsh's caddy - as you did, Gary Player's caddy and Jimmy Dickinson with Jack Nicklaus, and Willie Aitchison, who caddied for Lee Trevino. He was doing it with driver shots!

Never mind the gowfers George, that's a HOF list of caddies you've quoted there.

Twould be interesting to see how many of today's top ROW 50 could match their skills with the older equipment.

I played in a boys' international match years ago, and the father of one of the England boys had hired Jimmy Dickinson to caddy. I remember smirking when this lad asked Jimmy what Jack would have hit, to which the response was 'Jack would be hitting a five iron. Here's your three wood'.

What a cracking put-down George. Not exactly a confidence-inducing moment for the lad though.

And I thought Jimmy Dickinson was the best English footballer not to be in the Football League Hall Of Fame.

gael,
I wonder how much Sandy Lyle would really want the RC Captaincy now? Lots of hassle just to say he's done it??
Wonder if his supporters and general wind ups want it more than him?
Still hold to the notion that 9/11 might have done him in.

So glad lyle never got RC captaincy. Something about him I just don't like. Perhaps a dozen years ago, but he's been a has been too long now, its more for the player not long left the tour, not an aviator wearing, squint capped simpleton.

I don't think the players would have welcomed Lyle.
IMO he would have made a very poor captain.
He might have retired injured if he had lost the first two days.

kwinigolfer wrote:gael,
I wonder how much Sandy Lyle would really want the RC Captaincy now? Lots of hassle just to say he's done it??
Wonder if his supporters and general wind ups want it more than him?
Still hold to the notion that 9/11 might have done him in.

Indeed kwini. Always surprised me that he ever wanted it in the first place. Who the heck enjoys all that speechifying and giving interviews never mind the effort required to manage twelve prima-donnas!

Why the 9/11 reference? Was that because it was put back a year?

"Still hold to the notion that 9/11 might have done him in"

"Why the 9/11 reference?"

Gael, are you forgetting about Sandy's stint in Guantanamo?

McLaren wrote:"Still hold to the notion that 9/11 might have done him in"

"Why the 9/11 reference?"

Gael, are you forgetting about Sandy's stint in Guantanamo?

Evidently, since I've no idea what you're talking about.

Well unless you were on a plane or sporting a beard in the afgahn mountains I dont see how 9/11 would stop you being RC captain. I await kwini's response. But for the time being lets assume he was taliban for a while.

helped us out .At the time we were doing a big job somewhere and desperate for decorators.Got a call from a firm to say they were doing all the corridors and rooms at the Belfry and the job had stopped due to the cancellation.Got us out of the mire.All the stands and hoardings were set up ready to go

gael,
That's right, just a hair-brained theory, but would James and/or even Torrance have been picked instead of Sandy Lyle?
Although I agree completely with Doon, perhaps characteristics that we see in Lyle now wouldn't have been so apparent in, say, 2003?

Mac, You're spot on, that WAS before he hooked up with the Taliban.

kwini ... I don't know the feller of course but, as wonderful a golfer as he was, Lyle didn't come across to me as having the right qualities for the captain's role as in ... personality and smarts.

Mind you, I'm sure he'd have done a lot better than Hal Sutton!

Gael - even I would have done better than Hal Sutton!!!!

LadyPutt,
And I've heard you look terrific in a cowboy hat . . . . . .

Think Sandy would have been a damn site better than Faldo.

Think Faldo will always be remembered as the Ryder cup sandwich boy

We'll never know oldpar, but perhaps they might both have been too out of touch by the time they (would have) received their opportunity. Lyle with the players based in the States, Faldo with anyone but his chums.
(But will always feel Faldo was unfortunate not to have the cool steadying influence of Luke Donald available for his Team.)

Meant to add my support to Alliss being added to the hall of fame, there is more to it than winning majors when it comes to leaving a mark on the game worth remembering.

Can't stand Alliss myself, what you see is totally different from what is there.
Semi-decent player with a superb swing though.
Good comentator in his time [which should have ended around 1990.]

I'm not really a great fan of Alliss. He used to be a decent commentator but recently he's been like Bruce Forsythe i.e. humoured for what he once was. Was a good player and might have been exceptional if he could have putted half-decently.

Lets face it, golf can be a pretty boring watch sometimes, and it's only made worse by the likes of Mark Roe and Sam Torrance, so I'm more than happy to listen to Peter Alliss gently extract the urine from fans and players alike to lighten the mood from what can be a pretty tedious spectacle at times.

allis is a legend.

i couldnt wait for the bbc coverage of the masters last year. it part of the appeal for me to enjoy allis waffling on and the open coverage is great

my sons name is Lyle. named after sandy but i was a bit annoyed he walked off during the open....actually it was seriously out of order and has tarnished his reputation in my eyes. one of the most naturally talented golfers i have seen.

both are welcome additions.

Both completely deserving of this recognition in my view. Just surprised it has taken so long to arrrive !

super_realist wrote:Lets face it, golf can be a pretty boring watch sometimes, and it's only made worse by the likes of Mark Roe and Sam Torrance, so I'm more than happy to listen to Peter Alliss gently extract the urine from fans and players alike to lighten the mood from what can be a pretty tedious spectacle at times.

Super

This may be rare but I totally agree with that comment.

This must be a first::: Mac, Super and me, in total agreement

I'm very, very happy for Sandy Lyle.

Lyle was born with a unique natural ability to hit the ball a mile with very little effort. Not a pretty swing but still great to watch live or on TV. He seemed to be a little fragile on the mental side of the game but still became World No.1, won 2 majors and won on a regular basis on both main tours.

He came across as a quiet un-assuming man and perhaps his lack of ego / self promotion contributed to him being over looked for Ryder Cup captaincy. In recent years he seems to have became increasingly frustrated with his legacy, or lack of it. Hopefully this honour will give him some satisfaction.

Masters 1988
His iron out of the fairway bunker at 18 over the pin and the birdie put must be the best ever final two shots to win a Major.

Faldo
Seve showed the top European's they could beat the US players and win Majors. Lyle proved to the top UK players the same. If Lyle had not won the Masters and the Open then I don't think Faldo would have won as many Majors, perhaps none at all. Faldo's ego (not a bad thing) motivated him to remodel his swing with Leadbetter (a huge risk at the time) so he could match and better Lyle's acheivements as he needed to be the best UK golfer of his generation. Great credit to Faldo as he managed to also beat Seve's total, but would he have risked all if Lyle had not beaten him to the Majors.

ScottieD18 wrote:I'm very, very happy for Sandy Lyle.

Lyle was born with a unique natural ability to hit the ball a mile with very little effort. Not a pretty swing but still great to watch live or on TV. He seemed to be a little fragile on the mental side of the game but still became World No.1, won 2 majors and won on a regular basis on both main tours.

Tiny correction - Sandy Lyle was never World No. 1, though he did reach No. 2 in 1988.