Legendary golfer Jack Newton briefly goes missing near Newcastle

A police search was sparked last night when Australian golfing legend Jack Newton, who is battling Alzheimer’s, went missing.

Australian golf legend Jack Newton has been found after strolling off while spending time with family and friends on Wednesday, sparking a police search.

He was enjoying an afternoon with family and friends at an apartment on Wharf Rd in Newcastle when he suddenly disappeared at about 5.30pm.

Family and friends raised the alarm when they did not hear from him.

The well-known sports identity was found safe and well a few streets away on Darby Street hours later, at around 9.30pm.

Golfing legend Jack Newton has been found after briefly going missing. Picture: Peter Lorimer.

Police have been told Mr Newton left the building without advising anyone, raising concerns among his family and friends.

In October the Sunday Telegraph revealed Newton is battling Alzheimer’s disease and had been embracing a healthy lifestyle to fight the condition’s debilitating effects.

The 70-year-old had quit alcohol and cigarettes and was on a strict exercise regimen and medication, in a battle his son said “he won’t give up”.

Jack Newton with his wife Jackie, who says he has given up drinking and smoking. Picture: Peter Lorimer.

Jack is renowned for his fighting qualities, having recovered from a near-death experience that shocked the nation in 1983 when he walked into a plane’s propeller at Sydney airport, losing his right arm and eye and part of his abdomen.

“Jack hasn’t touched a drop of alcohol or a smoke for 18 months,” his wife Jackie said in October.

“It’s been a big lifestyle change but he’s exercising regularly and going OK.”

Newton was first diagnosed in July last year after a visit to his family GP and then a specialist.

It is the same disease that killed his father, Jack Snr, in his late sixties.