Jack Newton, who lost a British Open playoff, dies at 72

By DENNIS PASSA
AP Sports Writer

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Jack Newton, who lost to Tom Watson in a 1975 British Open playoff and tied for second behind Seve Ballesteros at the 1980 Masters before his professional golf career ended in a near-fatal aircraft propeller accident, has died. He was 72. Newton had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. His family says Newton died due to “health complications.” Newton won the U.S. PGA Tour’s Buick Open in 1978 and the Australian Open in 1979 and three tournaments in Europe before his career — and nearly his life — ended when he walked into a propeller of a small plane he was about to board at Sydney airport in 1983.