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Post by Carl LaFong on May 2, 2024 18:10:50 GMT
Retired golfer was 75. I remember him well. From the era before golf got wedged up its own arse. In the gap during the 1970s between the pre-eminence of Tony Jacklin and the emergence of Nick Faldo, Peter Oosterhuis, who has died aged 75, was Britain’s best and most successful golfer. He was No 1 in Europe for four consecutive years and compiled one of the finest records in the Ryder Cup, winning an unusually high percentage of his matches during an era when the US exercised total dominance. He was also a trailblazer in the States, where he became one of the first Europeans to commit full-time to the tour there, joining in 1975 and staying until 1986. Later he carved out a successful second career as a golf analyst for the American broadcaster CBS. In all, Oosterhuis won 20 tournaments across the world, including the Italian Open (1974) and two French Opens (1973 and 1974). He dominated the newly formed European tour from 1971 to 1974, ending up as leader of the Order of Merit in each of those years. www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/may/02/peter-oosterhuis-obituary
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Post by Carl LaFong on May 2, 2024 18:12:28 GMT
From 1995 to 1997 he was the lead analyst for the Golf Channel’s coverage of the European Tour, having taken the job only on condition that he could take Ruth Ann with him on his travels. In 1998 he was picked up by CBS, where his calm English voice, dry wit and authoritative delivery proved popular with American audiences for the best part of 20 years.
In 2015, at the age of 67 and by now permanently based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Oosterhuis announced that he had early onset Alzheimer’s disease and that he was standing down from his CBS work as a result. Earlier in his life he had also been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, which had compelled him to keep incredibly detailed logs of every shot he made at every tournament, not to mention every type of bird he saw while playing – roughly 500 over his career, all identified via a copy of National Geographic Complete Birds of the World, which he carried in his golf bag. “There was a time when I could recall every course I’d ever played in fine detail, not just pars for the holes but even yardages,” he said after his Alzheimer’s diagnosis. “I wasn’t an encyclopedia, but I was close. Now it just isn’t there.”
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Post by geddy on May 2, 2024 18:24:30 GMT
RIP. Great guy, won the Canadian Open in 1980 I believe.
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Post by Xcalatë on May 3, 2024 19:55:30 GMT
That's the most Dutch name I have ever heard.
R.i.p.
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Post by Carl LaFong on May 3, 2024 20:20:55 GMT
That's the most Dutch name I have ever heard. R.i.p. He’s from Lambeth!
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Post by politicidal1 on May 5, 2024 23:30:23 GMT
R.I.P.
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