Golf: Charles to gallop off into sunset

By WYNNE GRAY

Sir Bob Charles is insistent - no ifs, buts or maybes. This is his last New Zealand Open.

Even come a sensation on Sunday if Charles were to repeat his initial Open victory of 50 years ago, the famous left-hander will not return to defend his title.

He will continue to play golf on the Champions Tour in the States, but a wish to spend more time with his family and on other projects mixed with the "obscene" influence of technology has persuaded Charles that this is the end.

One of his pals, Dave Stockton, who has made the trip Down Under with another buddy Jay Sigel, questioned Charles publicly about that decision, but Charles was unmoved. A fifth New Zealand Open title would not make any difference.

"He still plays extremely well," Stockton added. "Golf courses don't know how old you are." He shook his head at his friend's intransigence and those who watched the soon-to-be 68-year-old Charles play in yesterday's pro-am at The Grange would also have wondered.

His work on the greens showed why he was rated up with the best with the blade in the history of golf.

His first five putts, from three metres to 15 metres, found the bottom of the cup.

Charles fobbed off that uncanny accuracy as just a fleeting glimpse of the past, a career which included victory at the 1963 British Open as he earned a reputation as the best golfer in New Zealand's history.

He was more effusive about the way technology had hit golf, one of the reasons he was moving out of the competitive scene. New equipment had Charles and his colleagues on the Champions Tour playing courses averaging 6400 metres, longer than events on the regular PGA tour.

"Now I am out of my depth," Charles said. "What chance have I got, I can't compete, I love the game but not 7000-yard [6400m] courses."

Charles felt the sport was heading in the wrong direction. Courses needed to be made shorter and tougher.

At The Grange he has a course to suit at 5978 metres and he is also relaxed enough to contemplate a brief fishing excursion to the Mercury Islands today with his American pals.

That done, the trio will turn their attention to The Grange, a course in great shape, as is Charles.

He missed last year's event because of tendinitis, but said he had no aches or pains after a few practice rounds this week.

He will need all his stamina for the variety of media, sponsorship and social arrangements outside his golf as he trawls through memories of his career, going back to his first New Zealand Open start as a teenager in 1953.

A year later Charles was champion as an amateur at Heretaunga. Six years on he turned pro and would soon clinch his most famous victory, at the British Open.

Would he feel emotional about his final round at this tournament? "Maybe a little bit. I will wave everyone farewell and then gallop off into the sunset."