Bob Charles returns to action in style at the Bad Ragaz PGA Seniors Open
New Zealand’s Bob Charles, the winner of the 1963 British Open, carded a four-under par 66 in the opening round of the Bad Ragaz PGA Seniors Open, to share the third position at the Golf Club Bad Ragaz, in Switzerland, on Friday, July 6, 2012.
Normally, it can be considered as a usual score that anyone can post in a Senior Tour event. Yet, it was not a usual one, in fact, it was phenomenal, as Charles did it at the age of 76.
He got off to a slow start and suffered a bogey on the first hole. However, it neither shook his confidence nor his hands and he started playing some good strokes on the course.
As a result, he managed to sink five birdies to break his own record of posting a score less than his age. His previous best was to register five shots less than his age. This time, he did it by 10 shots.
"That was one of those dream rounds," said the 76-year-old Charles at the PGA Senior Open. "I have had some great days in my career and this is one of them. I felt young again. My putting certainly reminded me of the days of my youth. I hit a lot of good
shots and never missed any short putts and that was the secret really".
"I retired at this tournament two years ago and I have only played one competitive tournament since then - the Legends of Golf with Gary - so I really didn't know what to expect today," added Charles.
According to him, he returned to the event because of his love for Bad Ragaz and Switzerland.
Moreover, he explained the reason of his retirement, saying that he was not competitive anymore and hanging around on the course did not have a great interest to him.
He is now behind the pace set by David J Russel and Mark James, who have scores of six-under par 64 and five-under par 65, respectively.
Tim Thelen, John Bland, Peter Fowler, Miguel Angel Martin and Des Smyth were the other five players who joined Charles on the leaderboard after carding the same score as he had.
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