JIM HARDIE FLANKED BY TWO MEN WHO HAVE WON 6 OPEN TITLES

  Aberdeen businessman Jim Hardie flanked by two Open champions of yesteryear, New Zealander Sir Bob Charles (left), winner at Royal Lytham in 1963, and five times Open champion, Australian Peter Thomson, winner in 1954 (Royal Birkdale), 1955 (St Andrews), 1956 (Hoylake), 1959 (Royal Lytham) and 1965 (Royal Birkdale). Thomson was the original "Tiger" ... the Melbourne Tiger they called Peter, writes Colin Farquharson .
Jim Hardie escapes from the North-east winter to spend a couple of months in New Zealand either side of the turn of the year.
He plays a lot of golf with Sir Bob near Christchurch where he lives.
"Still a very fine golfer and always a great guy," says Hardie who experienced an earthquake first hand in his Christchurch hotel on his recent visit to NZ.
"Christchurch was devastated by the really big earthquake it suffered last year and I am astonished that it has received so little publicity in the British media. The people of Christchurch are living on their nerves because there the ground is shaking regularly.
"It is not a pleasant feeling and I can vouch for that after being there when there was one of the tremors that shook everything."
Sir Bob played a number of Scottish links on his last visit a couple of years ago and Jim Hardie says that he is planning another trip to Scotland this summer.