Together with his good golfing friend Geoff Saunders, the pair have detailed Sir Bob Charles’s successful life as a touring professional 57 years after his history-making Open Championship victory.
Written by Saunders, the biography details all of Sir Bob Charles’s career golfing highlights, as well as his life off the golf course.
Nine-time major champion Gary Player has written the forward for the book and provide special comments on his friend and lifelong competitor via video link at the launch last night.
Sir Bob Charles (R) and author Geoff Saunders during the media launch for the Sir Bob Charles biography. Photo: Simon Watts – bwmedia.co.nz
The book has been 10 years in the making, and Sir Bob Charles says he couldn’t be more pleased with how it’s turned out.
“We really put our heart and soul into the book at the beginning of the year. Of course, Covid-19 accelerated the whole production and Geoff did an outstanding job, I’m really proud of it,” Sir Bob Charles says.
Sir Bob’s mother kept a scrapbook of all his achievements and noteworthy performances which helped both Geoff Saunders and Sir Bob Charles put the book together.
“We did a lot of research and my mother helped immensely as she kept scrapbooks from 1953 into the mid 70’s. In fact, the scrapbooks are all in a box that I can hardly pick up, but all the information was in those books as far as scores and tournament details.
“It was really exciting putting this book together and I have a lot of people to thank for it. It’s 321 pages about my life and it’s almost at the point the reader will know more about my life than I do. There are over 160 photographs in the book and it’s a wonderful collection of images.”
After Sir Bob’s final professional event at Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland, Geoff Saunders was keen to share the story of one of New Zealand’s finest sportspeople.
10-years later the book has been published providing a wonderful record of the greatest golfer New Zealand has seen.
