Sir Bob Charles slams LIV Golf amid rumours

Golf legend Sir Bob Charles said he would ask them at the Canterbury Golf Dinner on Friday night whether they would host the LIV Golf Event next year.

Christchurch Golf Club confirmed to Checkpoint that representatives from the Saudi-backed tournament had visited the club but no targets had been identified.

Critics see the controversial mega-tournament as a sporting wash and an attempt by Saudi Arabia to distract from its poor human rights record – including the brutal assassination of a journalist in Turkey in 2018.

But as patron of the Christchurch club, Sir Bob wants no part in it. If the event goes ahead, he will make sure he is as far away as possible – possibly as far away as Millbrook, 400 kilometres away.

“I’ve been playing for 50 years, traveling all over the world, and now the traditional games are being completely disrupted, they’re creating chaos, they’re causing a lot of problems, and I just don’t have time to play LIV.”

LIV launches in 2022. It is funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and its CEO is Australian golf legend Greg Norman.

Other golf stars, including former world number one Rory McIlroy, also bemoaned the division in the golfing world and urged the PGA of America and the London International Golf Championship to “get back together” so the world’s best players can play in the same tournament.

He said that while no one could “completely destroy” the sport, he would not tolerate “bribery and corruption” in tournaments.

“They’re getting paid huge amounts of money, but some of these players I’ve never heard of… I don’t know if they deserve it.”

He also didn’t like its aesthetic changes.

“It’s not a traditional game… We have a specific set of rules, it’s organised and they are just a bunch of boys playing football in shorts. So I don’t have anything bad to say about them.”

Sir Bob said he had no idea how the club would change.

“No one communicated with me. I didn’t know anything.”

Elsewhere in the golf world, Sir Bob praised Paris Olympic gold medalist Lydia Ko, who is now eligible for induction into the LPGA Hall of Fame.

She birdied the 18th hole at the National Golf Club to win the gold medal at 10 under, two strokes ahead of her nearest competitor.

“That’s fantastic. I’m so proud of her,” Sir Bob said. “She’s definitely had her ups and downs recently, and mostly lows… but she’s had a lot of success leading up to this competition and I think this Olympic gold medal is the icing on the cake.”