The sons shine for Rockin’ Rod
HE’S just as competitive as ever. Rod Latham, or Rockin Rod, played cricket for New Zealand and rugby for Canterbury but even now as a 53-year-old, his competitive juices remain as fierce as ever.
Golf is his main release now, as a player and as the Harewood Golf Club’s general manager.
His cricketing involvement now is perching on his deck chair with wife Sally, a flask and some snacks and watching son Tom play – for Canterbury and the Black Caps.
As Latham senior’s cricketing records are quickly surpassed by his talented son, he still smiles thinking about how he can beat him on the golf course.
He can’t, however, beat his other son Matt.
Matt is also a talented cricketer, recently shifting from Christchurch to Auckland. He played senior cricket in Christchurch and is currently doing the same for Birkenhead. He also plays indoor cricket in the New Zealand A team and plays golf off a 1.8 handicap.
Latham senior’s golf of late isn’t as good as he’d like. ‘‘It’s average,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve got the shanks.’’
He currently plays off a 6.8 though his mates would call him a burglar as he normally sits closer to a 4. Tom is on a 9.7.
In 2012 New Zealand Golf were looking for a home for their South Island Charles Tour golf tournament as the Christchurch Golf Club couldn’t continue hosting without a clubhouse.
Latham saw an opportunity and pounced. His Harewood club had recently undergone a huge renovation and he – and the club’s board and members – wanted to show it off and became the event’s hosts.
As general manager, Latham could have been a very busy man at the tournament, but his competitive streak led to him entering.
Latham made the cut in the $40,000 tournament. He finished 57th and beat a handful of professionals.
‘‘It was quite a big deal that tournament,’’ he said.
‘‘I actually got an understanding of what these pros go through in terms of playing two rounds then waiting to see if you can make the cut. I was right on the borderline, it was quite nervewracking.’’
LATHAM, who played four tests and 33 ODIs for New Zealand, called time on his 15-season domestic career in March, 1995.
He has since worked in corporate hosting, and as sponsorship manager for the Crusaders and Canterbury rugby.
He initially worked for former New Zealand cricketer Gary Troup.
‘‘I got invited to play in a World XI game in Sri Lanka and Troupey wouldn’t give me the time off so I resigned.’’
He’s been at Harewood for seven and a half years.
‘‘We’ve had a lot go on. When I first came here, it was struggling. But we were fortunate enough that the [adjoining] airport required some land to extend the safety strip of the north west runway so we managed to sell some land to them and, as a result, the club became financially stable.’’
Harewood had two golf courses, lost nine holes of the Plains course in the move.
What they do have now the championship standard, 18-hole, Woodlands course, a nine-hole course and far-improved practice facilities.
The seriously-renovated Woodlands course was redesigned by Greg Turner’s company Turner-Macpherson.
The money and the redesign helped Harewood hugely but Latham’s strong views on helping golf have also helped and he is a leader in the sport in Canterbury.
‘‘The game had become a little stagnant and we’re a club that wants to get ahead and be proactive. If you’re not, you get lost in the crowd and there are a lot of clubs and courses in Christchurch.’’
But why no involvement with cricket?
‘‘I have been part of the World Cup build-up which has been fun but I never wanted to get into coaching the boys or anything like that because they were always going to be Rod’s son.
‘‘It wasn’t easy. As my sons, they were always going to be competitive but I justfelt it was better to stay in the background and let them forge their own way.’’
And while he’s as proud of everything his boys have achieved, he still likes to rark them up and chirp away on the golf course.
Just as competitive as ever.