Popular golfer whose career was ended by an accident in which he lost an arm

In the build-up to the Open golf championship in 1975, Jack Newton, who has died aged 72, wagered money he did not have on a round with the world’s best player, Jack Nicklaus.

Typical of the party-loving Australian’s approach to golf and life, Newton and the Irishman John O’Leary challenged the American golfers Tom Weiskopf and Nicklaus to a practice round at the devilish Carnoustie course on the east coast of Scotland with £300 riding on the result.

Halfway through the round Newton and O’Leary were two shots up. Nicklaus then overheard Newton goading Weiskopf that ‘‘you better get a new playing partner’’. By the end of the 18 holes Nicklaus, known as the

Golden Bear, had taught Newton a golfing lesson; realising that the Australian was financially challenged at the time, he settled for a beer and a sandwich in the clubhouse as his winnings.

Though somewhat chastened, Newton had been watching closely as Nicklaus made judicious club selections and read the greens unerringly in the treacherous conditions. When the tournament got under way, the Australian carded 69 in the first round to end the day one shot off the lead.

The seaside links course suited Newton’s strong long-iron game and in the face of windy and rainy conditions, he did not lack confidence. Nothing if not conspicuous in his checked trousers, he was renowned for smoking copiously on the course and would use the fresh air to help him recover from the previous evening’s entertainment. He was still in contention after a 71 in round two and he was helped further by being paired with Nicklaus in the third round. The Golden Bear hit an exemplary 68, but Newton set a course record of 65.

Going into the last few holes of the final round, Newton held a two-shot lead but claimed that he lost his rhythm because of a backlog of players ahead of him waiting to play the 16th hole. He dropped a shot and also bogeyed the 17th hole. Meanwhile, the American Tom Watson had holed a 20ft putt on the final hole to tie with Newton. The Australian had an 18ft birdie putt of his own on the final green to win the Open, but came up short.

Newton would always insist that his performance in the play-off the next day was not addled by a late night. He started the stronger, but said that the golfing gods were smiling on Watson when he hit a wild tee-shot on the 8th hole that was sailing out of bounds until it rebounded off a wire fence and back on to the course. They were level going into the final hole. Newton’s approach shot went into a bunker. He bogeyed the hole. Watson made par and won the Open by a shot.

Newton would continue to be one of the most popular players on the tour; only the brilliance of the Spanish maestro Seve Ballesteros denied him the US Masters in 1980. Yet three years later, at the age of 33, his career, and nearly his life, was over.

A trip to Sydney to watch a football match had ended in disaster. Boarding a Cessna light aircraft in a hurry in pouring rain and in a poorly lit corner of Sydney airport, Newton walked into the propeller. His right arm was severed and he lost his right eye. Doctors rated his chances of survival at only 50-50, but after eight weeks in intensive care it was clear that he would live.

Then his troubles really began. He had always lived from win to win on the PGA tour, spending what he earned. He had two young children to support, but with only one arm he could no longer play golf professionally. He also worried about ‘‘what my mates are going to think. Can I go to the pub any more?’’ He need not have worried.

He made vital use of one of the few resources he had left, which was surprisingly intact: his cheerfulness and fun-loving nature. Fellow players and fans rallied to support the Newton family during his 18-month rehabilitation. ‘‘I had to get back on the bike and go forward. I believe things happen for a reason. Coming as close to death as I did, the birds now chirp a little louder.’’

The son of a police detective, Jack Newton was born in Cessnock, New South Wales. Strong and athletic, he was planning to train as a PE teacher, but all the hours practising golf as a child paid off when he turned professional at the age of 19 in 1969. He began to appear regularly on the European tour in 1972 and his first big win was the British Matchplay Championship in 1974. That year he married Jackie Butterworth, a model he had first met at a British golf tournament where she was helping to promote a brand of cigarettes. She survives him along with their daughter, Kristie, a professional golfer, and son, Clint, a professional rugby league player.

Newton, who always refused to wear a prosthetic arm, forged a career in television after his accident and became a popular golf commentator in Australia. He also founded the Jack Newton Junior Golf foundation, which supports young players in Australia.

Sixteen years after his accident he received compensation after a court in Sydney acknowledged safety deficiencies in the aircraft and in the airport’s procedures. For Newton, who said that his family had been deeply upset by rumours about his state of sobriety when he approached the aircraft, the vindication mattered more than the money.

He and his wife lived contentedly, keeping a stable of trotting horses. One day a rather shady character turned up offering to sell him the propeller that almost killed him. Showing an eloquent line in Aussie invective, Newton sent the man away with a plain description of where he could shove the propeller. –

‘‘Coming as close to death as I did, the birds now chirp a little louder.’’