Peter Oosterhuis, a Ryder Cup stalwart for Europe and a longtime voice at the Masters, is dead at 75.
Oosterhuis died peacefully in his home Thursday morning, PGATour.com reported.
The London native retired from broadcasting in 2014 to deal with the effects of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
Oosterhuis was a stellar performer on the course for years, finishing as high as 28th on the PGA Tour’s money list, but is best known to this generation for his commentary.
“Life takes so many interesting turns,” Oosterhuis told Golf Digest in 2015.
“In 1995, I got a call from this new network called the Golf Channel. Their offer: commentate at 28 tournaments. I tossed the idea at Roothie (his wife, Ruth), and she said, ‘We’ve been married for two years, and I have no desire to be at home alone for 28 weeks a year. Tell them you’ll take it — if they’ll pay for me to travel with you.’ Surprisingly to me, Golf Channel accepted.”
Oosterhuis worked as an analyst for more than 15 years and was long the voice of the 17th hole at The Masters.
“The secret is to do for a living something that, given a choice, you’d do anyway. I never saw announcing as work,” Oosterhuis said. “Hanging out at places like Augusta National and Pebble Beach, being with my friends, the preparation, is not exactly a crime against humanity.”
On the course, he may have best been known for his six Ryder Cup appearances, but he also won the European Order of Merit four times and had top 10s in The Masters (T3, 1973), the U.S. Open (T7, 1975) and the British Open (2nd, 1974, 1982).
Oosterhuis died one day shy of his 76th birthday.