Former Open champion rips into LIV Golf after latest rumour is confirmed

Former Open champion Sir Bob Charles has ripped into LIV Golf by claiming he wouldn’t be seen ‘walking across the street to watch’ if a tournament was ever hosted in his native New Zealand. 

There have been rumours coming out of the Saudi-bankrolled circuit in recent months that Christchurch Golf Club in New Zealand could be in line to soon host a LIV Golf League event.

LIV Golf officials reportedly took a scouting trip to the venue earlier this summer.

But Charles, 88, who is a patron of Christchurch Golf Club, has confirmed in an interview with The New Zealand Herald that he ‘wants nothing to do with it’ if LIV Golf does strike a deal with his home club.

Happy birthday wishes go out today to New Zealand's Sir Bob Charles, winner of the 1963 Open Championship and a two-time winner of the Senior Open Championship. Hope you have a great day, Sir Bob! 🥝 pic.twitter.com/CQTNsXusCd

— Golf Hall of Fame (@GolfHallofFame) March 14, 2021

Charles, who won the 1963 Open Championship in a 36-hole playoff at Royal Lytham & St Annes and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2008, told The Herald:

“I hope they’re not playing at either of my golf courses. I don’t endorse LIV Golf in any way in fact, quite the opposite. I want nothing to do with it. I wouldn’t walk across the street to watch.

“The traditional game that I’ve played for 50 years travelling around the world is in total upheaval and they’re causing havoc – they’re causing problems, and I just have no time for LIV whatsoever.

“It’s not the traditional game… we had a certain set of rules, we had an organisation and they’re a bunch of boys playing in short pants. So I’ve got nothing nice to say about them whatsoever.”