EAustralian golf great Jack Newton has died at the age of 72. The Australian Open champion of 1979 died overnight due to “health complications”according to his family.
Newton’s victory at the Australian Open was one of the great achievements of his record. After turning pro in 1971 and winning the Dutch Open the following year, Newton’s stellar career included two runner-up finishes, one at the British Open in 1975 and one at the US Masters in 1980.
Newton’s sports career ended prematurely in July 1983 when, at the age of 33, he lost his right arm and his eye after colliding with an aircraft propeller during a storm. Newton’s right arm was amputated, he lost sight in his right eye and suffered serious injuries to his abdomen.
Doctors gave him only a 50 percent chance of survival, He spent several days in a coma, nearly two months in intensive care, and required lengthy rehabilitation from his injuries. “Things were not very clear to me. I knew it from the priest walking around my (hospital) bed,” Newton said later.
Despite everything, Newton returned to public life as a popular television commentator, radio and newspaper pundit, golf course designer, and president of the Jack Newton Junior Golf Foundation, which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for emerging golfers in the United States. Australia.
Newton also relearned to play one-handed golf, swinging the club with his left hand. from a right-handed position, to return to a handicap of 12 or 14.
