Golf: Sir Bob excused a little nostalgia

Sir Bob Charles could be excused for feeling nostalgic as he walks the Middlemore fairways during this week's New Zealand Open.

His appearance at Middlemore comes 50 years after he first played in the New Zealand Open, at Balmacewen, Dunedin.

And an even more sentimental journey awaits him next year. Plans are afoot to hold the 2004 Open at Heretaunga, venue of Charles' first championship win as an 18-year-old.

Charles has won four New Zealand Opens and has missed only a handful since first teeing up in 1953.

But he has firmly declared that next year's tournament will be his swansong.

"This year will be a nostalgic occasion, too, but next year having the opportunity to play the tournament 50 years after winning it would be a unique experience," he said.

"So, hopefully, the body holds together and I'll be able to compete this time next year."

Charles, 66, has plied his trade successfully in the United States since joining the tour in 1986.

He has won 23 times on the seniors tour and is one of its top money-earners with prize money of US$8.7 million ($16.1 million).

"I'm old enough to be the father of some of these guys who are joining the seniors tour," he said.

"I'm not competitive with the 50- to 55-year-olds any longer, but I still feel I can compete with the over-60s and that keeps me going.

"I'll go back to the United States this year, but whether I go back the next hinges on many things.

"The young 50-year-olds coming through don't need a 67-year-old cluttering up the field."

Charles may have been disappointed that his earnings last year of almost US$200,000 left him 73rd on the seniors tour, but he was only two shots away from tying JC Snead for the Greater Baltimore Open, and he would have had a chance for the title had it not been for a two-shot penalty incurred in the last round.

Normally so fastidious in his course management, Charles admits he "slipped up." He was concentrating so hard that he was oblivious to the fact that he brushed some sand behind his ball off the green.

Charles says he will play about 26 events worldwide this year, 20 of them on the seniors tour.

"If I don't play well I will cut that number back, and it also depends on my health."

Charles has kept good health throughout his long career and he recalls withdrawing from just two events - one through food poisoning, the other because of a "bad back at the British Open in Sandwich".

He takes daily anti-inflammatories for a shoulder problem.

When Charles believes his competitive edge is blunted, he intends following the sun, spending six months on his Oxford farm in the South Island before taking in the Northern Hemisphere's warmer months.

- NZPA