KEY POINTS:
Golf legend Sir Bob Charles has long been a champion of natural remedies but he has never had to pop humble pills.
He is a natural when it comes to self deprecation, with the famous septuagenarian these days describing himself as a fair weather player.
The 72-year-old today
announced his intention to contest the US$600,000 ($1.18 million) New Zealand Open, telling NZPA he has his fingers crossed for warm temperatures at The Hills near Queenstown on March 12-15.
He has set a high benchmark for himself after finishing in a tie for 23rd in the last championship, held at the same venue in late 2007.
Charles astounded the galleries on that occasion by twice beating his age and becoming the oldest player in history to make the cut at a regular tour event.
He doesn't know if he can repeat that feat but he is keen to find out.
"One of the reasons I've decided to play is because my golf game has not deteriorated in the 15 months since the last New Zealand Open," the 1963 British Open and four-time New Zealand Open winner said.
"I thought, what the heck, let's see if I can't improve on my performances here last time.
"In 2007 it was out of the box, but then again everything fell into place. The conditions were perfect for my game. I'm a fine weather golfer and we had some perfect weather between 20-25degC.
"If the weather is good I play good, if it is bad I play bad. I'm just hoping and praying for the sort of weather we had last time."
He can handle wind and rain, but the cold is a different matter entirely.
"I cannot function in the cold. When you have three or four sweaters on I have difficulty getting my swing past the vertical," said Charles, a 2008 inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
"The worst thing about cold weather is that I have very poor circulation, particularly in my hands, and if the temperature gets below 15degC I lose all my feel."
Next month's tournament marks the first New Zealand Open staged under a joint Australasian Tour and Nationwide Tour banner.
Charles expects competition to be considerably stiffer than 15 months ago when the championship was co-sanctioned by the European Tour, whose players largely stayed away.
He thinks the addition of the United States' secondary Nationwide Tour will only do the championship good.
"The young guys who you or I probably haven't heard of are very talented players.
"The Nationwide is the feeding ground for the regular tour in the US and most of the successful guys on the regular tour have come from the Nationwide.
"I think the quality of golf will be stronger than in 2007 because we did not get any kind of response from the high profile Europeans, which was the only disappointment of the tournament.
"Even though there is unlikely to be any high profile names the quality of golf will be far more competitive this year."
The championship marks Charles' first event of a year which will again see him compete in the United States and Europe as his remarkable career shows no signs of ending.
He is looking forward to locking horns with South African friend and rival Gary Player in the Legends of Golf event in Savannah, Georgia, on April 24-26 ahead of the US Senior PGA Championship at Beachwood, Ohio, in May.
He is then set for the Ryder Cup Wales Senior Open in June before the Senior British Open the following week at Sunningdale, the scene of his maiden win as a professional in Europe, in 1961 in the Bowmaker Tournament.
The secret to Charles' success at The Hills in 2007 was his thorough preparation as he crammed in close to a dozen practice rounds at The Hills before the championship.
He will not have the same luxury this time, with tractor driving duties beckoning on his farm outside Christchurch as he helps his staff with the barley harvesting chores.
Rest assured, though, that he will find the time to ensure he again does himself credit.
There is extra motivation for him, too, because he will celebrate his 73rd birthday on the Saturday of the championship.
Given his nature, he will be quietly determined to celebrate the milestone with a club in hand rather than miss the second round cut and watch on as others contest the money rounds that weekend.
- NZPA
