KEY POINTS:
This country's greatest golfer remains undecided whether to accept an invitation to play in the 90th New Zealand Open next month.
Officials have left a spot available for Sir Bob Charles to contest the championship at The Hills near Queenstown from November 29 to December 2.
The event at Michael Hill's new course will be contested by 156 players.
The 71-year-old, who last contested the open in 2004 - 50 years after he won the championship as an amateur - is still toying with the offer.
"I retired from the open in 2004 and mostly that was because I didn't want to take up a spot in the field for a young player," he said.
"I've told the organisers that if they feel I could better help the open by playing then I would look favourably at it."
An iconic figure in New Zealand sport, Charles won the British Open in 1963 and remained the only New Zealander to win a major before Michael Campbell's success in the US Open in 2005.
Irrespective of which decision Charles makes, he will have a role to play at the open - he has agreed to become patron of the championship.
"It's a real honour for me to be offered this position to be a figurehead for the New Zealand Open," the four-time winner of the championship said.
"It's nice to receive that sort of recognition and I am looking forward to the open."
Despite his advancing years, Charles again competed on the seniors circuits in the United States and Europe this year, playing in 13 events and making the cut 12 times.
His best performance was to finish second in the Wentworth Senior Masters in England last month, a week after tying for 34th in the Senior British Open at Muirfield.
- NZPA
