Peter Oosterhuis

Early years, amateur golf

Oosterhuis was born in London and educated at Dulwich College. He won the 1966 Berkshire Trophy by a stroke from Michael Bonallack, after a final round 67 which included nine 3s in 11 holes, with seven 3s in succession. He represented Great Britain in the 1967 Walker Cup and in the 1968 Eisenhower Trophy. He turned professional in November 1968.

European Tour

Oosterhuis played on the European circuit in the early years of his professional career, from 1969 to 1974, winning the Harry Vardon Trophy (the Order of Merit title) four consecutive times from 1971 to 1974.

In 1969, his rookie season, he started the season by winning the Sunningdale Foursomes, playing with the amateur Peter Benka, and finished runner-up in the Gor-Ray Under-24 Championship. He was awarded the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award. In 1970 Oosterhuis won two age-restricted events, Lord Derby’s Under-23 Professional Tournament and the Coca-Cola Young Professionals' Championship. Later in the season he finished tied for sixth in the Open Championship and third in the Dunlop Masters. Oosterhuis had won the General Motors Open in South Africa in February, an event which served as the South African qualifier for the Alcan Golfer of the Year Championship. He finished tied for third place with Neil Coles and Lee Trevino, winning £2,487.

Oosterhuis won his first major British event, the Agfa-Gevaert Tournament, in May 1971 and followed this up by winning the Sunbeam Electric Tournament and the Piccadilly Medal later in the season.These, together a number of other high finishes, including being runner-up in the Carroll's International and the Dunlop Masters, gave Oosterhuis the Order of Merit title with 1292.5 points, beating Neil Coles who finished just 7 points behind. 1972 was the first year of the European tour. Oosterhuis won the Penfold-Bournemouth Tournament and the Coca-Cola Young Professionals' Championship, a non-tour event. He was runner-up in the Dutch Open, the Viyella PGA Championship and the John Player Classic. He won the Order of Merit title with 1751 points, ahead of Guy Hunt on 1710, although his performances in the big money events put him well ahead as the leading money winner with £18,525.

Oosterhuis won three European tour events in 1973, the Piccadilly Medal, French Open and Viyella PGA Championship. He was also runner-up in the Sunbeam Electric Scottish Open and Dutch Open. He won the Order of Merit again, with 3440 points, 460 points ahead of Maurice Bembridge. He won £17,455 in official tour events, second behind Tony Jacklin. Oosterhuis won three more European tour events in 1974, the French Open and the last two tournaments of the season, the Italian Open and El Paraiso Open. In addition he was runner-up in five other events, including the Open Championship, and was third in three more, finishing outside the top three only twice during the European Tour season. He won the order of merit for the fourth time, nearly 600 points ahead of second-place Dale Hayes.

Although he played on the PGA Tour from 1975, Oosterhuis made regular visits to play in the Open Championship and occasionally other European Tour events. He was runner-up in the 1977 Penfold PGA Championship, the 1981 Bob Hope British Classic and the 1982 Open Championship.

South African Tour

After turning professional Oosterhuis played in his first professional tournament in South Africa in January 1969. He played regularly in South Africa from the 1968/69 season until the 1973/74 season.

PGA Tour

Oosterhuis made his debut on the PGA Tour at the 1971 Greater Greensboro Open, the week before competing in his first Masters. In 1973 Oosterhuis led The Masters after three rounds before finishing third. In the 1974 Monsanto Open, Oosterhuis lost in a playoff to Lee Elder.

In November 1974 Oosterhuis finished fourth in the 144-hole PGA Tour Qualifying school, earning his card for the 1975 season. He made his debut as a tour player in the opening event of the season, the Phoenix Open. Oosterhuis played full-time on the PGA Tour from 1975 until 1986, winning the Canadian Open in 1981. Oosterhuis was twice a runner-up, in the 1975 First NBC New Orleans Open and the 1977 Canadian Open.

Ryder Cup

Oosterhuis played on six consecutive Ryder Cup teams for Great Britain and Ireland and later Europe from 1971 to 1981. Representing Great Britain and Ireland from 1971 to 1977 he had an impressive record, especially in singles matches. In 1971 he beat Gene Littler and Arnold Palmer, in 1973 he halved with Lee Trevino and beat Palmer again, in 1975 he beat Johnny Miller and J. C. Snead while in 1977 he beat Jerry McGee. At that time he had a singles record of 6 wins, a half and no losses. Although he lost his singles matches, playing for Europe, in his final two Ryder Cup matches, he finished with a 6–2–1 record in singles and with 6½ points is only ½ point behind the overall Ryder Cup singles record of 7 points held by 5 players including Arnold Palmer. Palmer had only three losses in 11 singles matches, two of them by Oosterhuis, the other being by Peter Alliss in 1963. In all matches Oosterhuis had a winning 14–11–3 record in the Ryder Cup, despite being on the losing side on all six occasions.

Club professional

From 1987 to 1993, he was Director of Golf at Forsgate Country Club in Jamesburg, New Jersey, and at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California.

Broadcasting career

In 1994, Oosterhuis was hired to cover the PGA Tour by Britain's Sky Sports and covered the Open Championship for the BBC in 1996 and 1997. From 1995 to 1997, he was the lead analyst for the Golf Channel's coverage of the European Tour.

In 1997, Oosterhuis joined of the CBS Sports announce team part time, working five events including the Masters and the PGA Championship. In 1998, he joined the CBS golf team full-time. Oosterhuis has also worked on early-round coverage when CBS was covering the weekend, fulfilling this role for ESPN (2003–2006), Golf Channel (1998–2002, 2007–2014), and USA Network (1997–2007). In 2010, Oosterhuis began to work for CBS part-time, again calling around five events per year including the Masters and PGA Championship. Oosterhuis retired from broadcasting following the 2014 PGA Championship due to health concerns stemming from early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

Oosterhuis called the action at Augusta National's 17th hole for 18 consecutive years from 1997 through 2014.

Personal

Oosterhuis lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the United States with his second wife, Ruth Ann. He is a member of the Quail Hollow Golf Club in that city. His son Rob is also a professional golfer.

In May 2015, Oosterhuis announced that he was battling early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

Amateur wins

European Tour wins (7)

European Tour playoff record (2–1)

PGA Tour wins (1)

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

Other wins (10)

This list may be incomplete.

Results in major championships

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1981 Open Championship)
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional