Tiger Woods' accident brought back memories of July 24th, 1983 when Jack Newton walked into the spinning propeller of a Cessna airplane which he was about to board at Sydney Airport.
I loved watching Newton play as he was quick and bloody good. He was one of Australia's most successful golfers in the 1970s and early 1980s.
He turned professional in 1971 and won his first professional tournament, the Dutch Open, in 1972.
Newton notched up several victories over the next decade as he won titles such as the British Matchplay in 1974, the Buick-Goodwrench Open in 1978, and the Australian Open Championship in 1979.
In the 1975 British Open Championship at Carnoustie in Scotland, Newton lost in a play-off to Tom Watson.
In the third round, Newton set a course record of 65, despite having injured an ankle so severely on the practice tee prior to the start of the championship that he had it professionally wrapped each day.
In the 1983 incident, he lost his right arm and eye and sustained severe abdominal injuries.
A severe rainstorm was in progress at the time, and in addition, safety aspects near the plane were deficient.
Doctors gave this gifted Aussie player a 50-50 chance of surviving and after several days in a coma and eight weeks in intensive care he pulled through.
Out of Bounds: Overheard at the 19th: "On the 12th, I had four putts, however, I can honestly say that it wasn't my fault as the connection between my brain, hands and putter was temporally disrupted due to being six down at the time."