Sir Bob Charles aces it at Hills

Golfing great Sir Bob Charles kisses a ball after nailing a hole-in-one at the par-three tournament at the Farm course, beside The Hills, yesterday.
Golfing great Sir Bob Charles kisses a ball after nailing a hole-in-one at the par-three tournament at the Farm course, beside The Hills, yesterday. Photo: Michael Thomas/www.photosport.co.nz
Bob Charles
Bob Charles
The greens are mowed, the flags are set - now all that is needed is some decent weather.

The 100th New Zealand Open is set to start this morning in Arrowtown at The Hills and Millbrook courses.

And it has already made history with New Zealand's greatest golfer scoring a hole-in-one yesterday.

Sir Bob Charles, playing in the inaugural par-three competition, which preluded the Open, bagged an ace on the ninth hole of the new Farm course, beside The Hills.

Charles (82), a four-time New Zealand Open winner, was ecstatic to score the hole-in-one - the 11th of his career - and although he is not playing in the actual tournament, he has grabbed a memorable result before the proper competition has started.

The Open has found a home in the Queenstown area, which hosted the event for the first time in 2007, and tournament chairman John Hart said yesterday there was no other place in New Zealand that could host it.

''Nowhere else can hold it. In terms of accommodation, the courses, the infrastructure, Queenstown is the only place.''

He paid tribute to the courses which allowed the event to go ahead. There was an agreement to have the Open at the two courses until at least 2021 and Hart hoped for it to continue after that.

It was windy and cold at the courses yesterday but it was expected to clear today with a fine forecast for the weekend.

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