That’s Kiwi golfing legend Sir Bob Charles’ reaction to Aussie Ryan Peake clinching the 104th New Zealand Open with a dramatic 8-foot par putt at Arrowtown’s Millbrook Resort last Sunday.
Remarkably, Sir Bob was the last leftie to win the NZ Open — that was 52 years ago, in 1973, when he won the title for the fourth time.
Ten years earlier, he’d famously become the first left-hander to win golf’s greatest tournament, the British Open — or any major, for that matter.
Sir Bob got to see a primary replica of The Open’s claret jug — first awarded in 1872 — at the NZ Open champions dinner at Millbrook early last week.
It had been brought here by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club’s Asia-Pacific director Dominic Wall, as this year’s NZ Open winner automatically qualified for this year’s British Open at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
Sir Bob — who turns 89 next Friday — says after winning in 1963 he bought "at considerable expense" two 90% replicas of the claret jug which he still has at home in Christchurch.
As a leftie he recalls being "a lone ranger" in the ’60s.
"Left-handed clubs weren’t readily available like they are today ... 50, 60 years ago, you had to wait 12 months before the left-handed model [of a right-handed model] came out.
"There’s a lot more left-handers around now than what there were 50 years ago — I imagine probably close to 5% of the PGA Tour would be left-handed golfers."
Ironically, he points out last weekend’s PGA Tour winner, Joe Highsmith, is also a leftie.
"Left-handers had a double this week."
