Sexist remark about Sergio Garcia’s fiancee is par for the course for BBC’s Peter Alliss

Peter Alliss won a bunch of tournaments in Europe in the 1950s and 60s, but these days the BBC golf announcer is known more for his sexism than he is for his golf game or broadcast skills. To wit, Alliss’ latest cringe-worthy moment came after Sergio Garcia won his first major championship at Augusta on Sunday, when the 86-year-old World Golf Hall of Famer commented about the attire of the Masters winner’s fiancee, Angela Akins.

“She’s got the shortest skirt on campus,” Alliss, apparently presuming he was off-air at the time, said as Akins celebrated Garcia’s victory, according to The Sun.

Alliss made what the BBC on Monday claimed was a “light-hearted” remark that the analyst agreed was “inappropriate,” The Sun reported.

Alliss’ Masters miscue was just the latest in a series of misogynist assertions. There was the time during the 2015 British Open when BBC had to apologize for its employee’s offensive words when Alliss said of Zach Johnson’s wife, Kim Barclay, “She’s probably thinking, ‘If this goes in I get a new kitchen,’” according to the The Sun.

And who could forget Alliss’ reaction to Muirfield’s obstinance about entering the 20th century, let alone the 21st, by admitting women members? If women wanted in, Alliss said, they should marry members instead of trying to join the club, which recently voted, finally, to let women join.

“Bra-burning merchants” (Alliss’ charming term for those battling for women’s equality) had “buggered up the game for a lot of people,” the remorseless male chauvinist told Radio Times in 2015.

Fast forward to 2017, and Alliss just couldn’t resist taking another shot at the half of the population that is not male.

“I’ll try not to be too much of a dinosaur, but remember: Dinosaurs are making a comeback. We’re going to clone them, you know,” he told Newsweek ahead of last week’s Masters. “No matter how you wrap it up, women will never be able to do things that men can do.”

Going on a rant about how women should not be allowed to box, Alliss offered this observation: “There’s certain things that women do that we can’t do, as far as I’m concerned.

“Those are my views. I think women are more delicate than men. I like holding chairs for women,” said Alliss, who just can’t seem to shut the hell up when it comes to offensive remarks about the opposite sex.

While noting that he enjoyed “the company of women,” Alliss put his foot in up to his elbow.

“I don’t want to be bullied by [women],” he said. “I don’t care for macho women, I don’t care for them very much. And yet they’re prevalent today, and very prevalent in some cases. And very forward.”

In that same interview, Alliss ripped Rory McIlroy after the four-time major champion called it “obscene” that Muirfield required two ballots before admitting women members.

“What a stupid thing for a bright lad to say,” said Alliss. “Better [to] say nothing: ‘Oh, well I’m pleased for them, whatever they want’ and just walk away. I can get into arguments now because I’m eighty-bloody-six.”

Alliss won 31 tournaments, played on eight Ryder Cup teams, and has been BBC’s primary golf analyst since 1978. He’s also the inspiration for a commonly used sexist put-down on golf courses throughout the country, though those men (and women) who sneer and say, “Hit it, Alice” when an opponent’s putt comes up short have it wrong.

That over-used insult is not actually a sexist barb or even about some feeble putter named “Alice.” The slam, instead, refers to Alliss himself and the time, during Alliss’ singles match with Arnold Palmer at the 1963 Ryder Cup that the Brit badly missed a 3-footer.

“Someone snidely called out ‘Nice putt, Alliss,” the golf broadcaster recounted to Sports Illustrated in 1997. “I didn’t say the words myself, and didn’t hear who did, but they were certainly said and now are part of the lingua franca of golf.”

Be that as it may, let’s hope that Alliss spares us further outrage and follows through on his plan to step down after 56 years covering sports for BBC.

“I don’t know, it could be this year,” Alliss told Newsweek about when he might retire. “When I get to the point where I see something and I can’t respond, I’m interviewed and I have no words to say, this [tapping the side of his head] is getting fuddled —- I’ll go before I’m pushed.”

Push, BBC, push.