Sir Bob Charles has agreed to play in a spherical of the NZPGA and PGA of Australia Legends Sequence on the St Clair membership on February 8.
The 86-year-old former British Open champion had not performed competitively since his exceptional 66 at a Seniors Tour occasion in Switzerland a decade in the past, pal Richard Kahn mentioned.
“He was 76 then, so he shot a 10-under by way of his age, a world report.
“It’s fairly a coup to get him out of retirement.”
Kahn mentioned Charles was nonetheless an everyday social golfer and had just lately shot rounds of 73 and 74 at Millbrook.
“His contact continues to be superb. He’s nonetheless very aggressive, and he wouldn’t be turning up if he wasn’t.
“He’s 87 in March. He first got here to Dunedin in 1953 for the New Zealand Open, and to be coming again for a match 70 years later is kind of unimaginable.”
St Clair skilled Patrick Moore was excited to have Charles coming to the membership for the Legends Event.
The course could be shortened — the sphere enjoying off the white tees — as the good left-hander was an advocate of tournament-appropriate enjoying lengths and the necessity for golfers to utilise each membership within the bag.
A go to from the left-handed immortal, who would run a placing clinic for juniors whereas in Dunedin, was particular given it had been 70 years since his look as a young person on the New Zealand Open at Balmacewen, and 60 years since his main heroics at Royal Lytham and St Annes, Moore mentioned.
It will additionally deliver again recollections of the 1971 Charity Basic match gained by Charles at St Clair.
The Legends Sequence, which has beforehand been to Balmacewen and Chisholm Hyperlinks, returns to New Zealand for the primary time since Covid.
St Clair is the beginning of an Otago highway swing, adopted by North Otago (February 9) and Tokarahi (February 11). All tournaments have a $12,500 purse.