Walter John Ihaka Godfrey (born October 1941)[1] is a professional golfer from New Zealand.

[4] He remains the youngest winner of this tournament with current PGA Tour professional Danny Lee.

[1] Two years later, Godfrey represented New Zealand in the Eisenhower Trophy, playing with Bob Charles.

[3] During this era he was also invited to play in amateur tournaments in South Africa but, because he is Maori, he decided not to travel, circumspect of how he would be treated in the apartheid country.

He sporadically played in Europe in his first year as a pro, participating in the 1963 Open Championship, but the weather did not appeal to him and he returned to New Zealand.

[6] The following year, he tied for second at the Metalcraft Tournament in his home country of New Zealand, three behind Australian legend Peter Thomson.

[7] Two months later, on 10 December, he entered the final round of the BP Tournament, held near his hometown in Auckland, New Zealand, tied with Peter Thomson.

On the final hole, however, Thomson drove into the trees and made bogey while Godfrey birdied, exchanging the lead once more, giving the New Zealander the win.

[9] He describes these victories as his greatest successes because he defeated legendary golfers Kel Nagle and Peter Thomson at both of them.

He held the clubhouse lead at the New Zealand PGA Championship before Bob Shaw birdied the 72nd hole to win outright.

[10] The following month he recorded another runner-up finish, this time at the Tasmanian Open, albeit 17 strokes behind Randall Vines.

Godfrey was tied for the lead with Peter Thomson after two rounds at the South Australian Open.

[13] The following month, he won the Cumberland Classic in Sydney by one stroke over American Marty Bohen.

Possessing a 3-shot lead over Kel Nagle on the 11th hole, Godfrey hit his drive into the trees.

Rather than pitching out to the fairway he decided to gamble, hitting a 5-iron approach over a "menacingly low overhanging bough" towards the green.

In April, he finally won on the Asian circuit, winning the Hong Kong Open.

Like the previous year, he shot a course record in the second round, this time being a seven-under par 63, tying Kel Nagle for the lead.

He later stated, "I was just playing on memory, but by the end I couldn't judge hills or breaks on the greens.

[1] During this time he won an event held at Subang National, the 1979 Malaysian Dunlop Masters.