Obituary: Ross Newdick

Ross Newdick

* Ross Newdick, golfer, died age 68.

For a golfer known to take his time on the course, the end came mercifully quick for former New Zealand touring professional Ross Newdick.

Newdick was diagnosed with cancer two months ago while helping construct a course in China for Australian designer Graham Marsh.

He died at 68 this week in Noosa, Queensland, where he had lived with his family for the past two years.

Newdick was one of the first New Zealanders to follow this country's greatest player, Sir Bob Charles, into a career as a touring professional.

Barely months after Charles won the 1963 British Open, the only major title he secured in an otherwise long and distinguished career, Newdick made the switch from the amateur to pro ranks.

His best year was clearly 1966 when he won both the New Zealand PGA Championship and the Singapore Open.

In the same year he also finished second in the Hong Kong, Swiss, Dutch, and German Opens, and third in the New Zealand Open.

He had earlier won the New Zealand amateur championship in 1960, two years before joining Ross Murray, Walter Godfrey and Stuart Jones in the New Zealand team that finished fourth at the Eisenhower Trophy world championship in Japan.

After his playing career Newdick's interest in the game leaned towards course design and construction work.

He partnered Charles as a consultant on many New Zealand-based projects, including in part, Clearwater Resort in Christchurch - now home for the New Zealand PGA Championship.

He was later involved in the development of La Pointe Estate, north of Auckland.

Newdick was in China working for Marsh in September when he fell ill.

He was rushed to Hong Kong for surgery and then flown to Brisbane where specialists concluded his condition was inoperable.

Murray, one of the best amateurs produced by this country, remembered Newdick as a tidy all-round player, but rather slow.

He recalled playing against the Aucklander for Canterbury at an interprovincial event at Balmacewen in Dunedin in the late 1950s.

"I put a magazine in my bag - just to rile him a bit," Murray said.

"He was very slow. I wanted to play the game fast to upset him and he wanted to play slow to upset me. Our temperaments were not quite the same, put it that way."

During one tight contest, Murray duly pulled the magazine from his bag on the homeward nine and began reading.

"He was a bit flabbergasted but I told him 'you're that damn slow I've got to read something'," said Murray, who recalled winning "eventually".

Newdick is survived by his wife and two children.

- NZPA