Sir Bob Charles

Awarded Honorary Doctorate in Natural Resources by Lincoln University, 2007. Professional golfer who has carried New Zealand's reputation as a sporting nation to the centre of the world stage, winning major golf tournaments on every continent in a career spanning nearly six decades. Won the New Zealand Open as an 18-year-old in 1954. Won the British Open in 1963 at Royal Lytham and St Anne's Golf Links, Lancashire, He is the only left-handed golfer to have ever won this tournament and the only New Zealander. It was also the first victory by a Kiwi in a major international golf tournament. Today Sir Bob is semi-retired but still plays professional golf in senior events in the USA and Europe.