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It is hard to believe that it has been three years since the Big Fella from Shepparton left us to play the best golf courses in the universe.
To celebrate what would have been Jarrod Lyle’s 40th birthday, Challenge and the PGA have asked Jarrod’s family, friends, colleagues, and the infinite people he influenced, to share their favourite stories of the affable Tour Professional.
It is hard to believe that it has been three years since the Big Fella from Shepparton left us to play the best golf courses in the universe.
I miss the big fella. Jarrod was a friend, an inspiration, and I’m not ashamed to say that I loved him.
Through my work as a press photographer at the Shepparton News I had photographed Jarrod many times as a junior and took a keen interest as he progressed. We were also both members of the Shepparton Golf Club.
It wasn’t until around 2003 that we started to become friends when I would stalk him on the Aussie tour.
It was some years after his first scare with leukemia that I covered his first Australian Open at Moonah Links in 2003.
There was something special about this kid from Shepp. He followed his dream after a cancer scare and was playing a major Aussie tournament and I felt honoured to be there watching, photographing (and stalking) Jarrod.
The rest of the golf world knew there was something special about Jarrod was when he came third at the Heineken Classic in 2005.
I still remember photographing the tears of raw emotion running down his face as he was interviewed live on TV after his last round.
The legend of the fighting Jarrod Lyle had started.
Jarrod qualified in Asia for the 2006 Open at Royal Liverpool. The stalking was going to cost a little more this time, but I wasn’t going to miss it. I loved watching Jarrod play golf.
The best golfers in the world were there but if Jarrod was on the course, no one else mattered.
It was the first round of The Open with Jarrod on the practice putting green in front of the historic club house with other pros including Vijay Singh around.
Jarrod must have been feeling nervous as he passed a long and loud gust of wind. Vijay cracked up laughing as did the other pros. Jarrod had a bit of the Aussie larrikin in him and didn’t really care what others thought.
Most missed it but I saw the sigh of relief on his face through my camera when his first shot in a major finished on the fairway. He went on to miss the cut after he hit a ball over an internal out of bounds line on the 36th hole.
During the Open there was a lot of media attention after his illness.
Jarrod made headlines around the world just by making the field. It was an inspiration to watch him deal with it all. There was no bullshit and no excuses.
At around the time of The Open we started the “Lylefile” online, a website about Jarrod.
There was a section that invited messages to be send to Jarrod. There were thousands of messages of support and it was clear that Jarrod had inspired many people around the world with his fight with leukemia.
There were tears reading the messages of support from people who Jarrod’s story had touched around the world. His story gave people hope.
One of my greatest memories of Jarrod was during the Coolum Classic years. A group from Shepp went up to watch him for up to five years straight, starting around 2007.
Our hearts rode every shot he played. If he played in the morning, we would watch and then play our Coolum Cup in the arvo at another course.
The Wednesday night before the tournament he would play a few holes with us at MT Coolum. He was one of the boys playing with us on the eve of a big tournament.
Jarrod also made time to come and watch us on the Friday of our event. We loved watching him and we loved him watching us, even though he was a slightly better golfer.
Even though he laughed I think he really did like watching our antics. He made time for us as he did for many people around the world.
The Coolum golfing highlight was Jarrod shooting 63, a 9-under par course record in the second round in 2008.
The boys may have had a headache the next morning and a mysterious Lyle 63 sign appeared 12 storeys up over Coolum beach.
The Coolum boys will never forget the courage Jarrod showed on and off the course in his short life.
It was with great pride and pleasure that I accepted the invitation to take Jarrod and Briony’s wedding pictures in 2011. I guess he realised that I was going to turn up and stalk the wedding even if I wasn’t invited!
There were more tears in 2012 when the “c” word reappeared. We were organising a belated buck’s night when the news game through. It just wasn’t fair.
The Big Fella fought hard again with the inspiration of a beautiful daughter and beat the odds to make another comeback at the 2013 Masters.
There was huge media attention from all over the world. The crowd was in yellow for support and on the first tee there wasn’t a dry eye as he teed off the first.
I was thankful for auto focus cameras as the tears ran down my cheeks. Jarrod would have been happy if he missed the cut but again the fighting spirit pushed him to the end.
He was exhausted in the fourth round but made it through.
Myself and a mutual friend of ours, Graham, joined me to the USA to watch Jarrod make his comeback on the USPGA tour after 29 months on a medical exemption recovering from leukemia.
He had an invite for Vegas the week after the first event for the year in the Nappa Valley but had to go to Monday qualifying to get into the field.
We flew into San Francisco knowing realistically that we may only watch Jarrod play two rounds of golf.
Jarrod new that friends Ian and Thelma were making the trip but had no idea that Graham and I were going to be there.
It was late on our day of arrival when we heard that Jarrod had shot 66 to take one of the last spots at qualifying and was in the field for the first USPGA event of the year.
We headed to Nappa and hid in the bedroom of his motor home until he arrived back from practice on the Tuesday.
I will never forget the look on his face and the many swear words when he saw us there.
At dawn on Thursday after 29 months with medical exemption, Jarrod teed off the first with the same relief that I had seen so many times before through the camera, again with tears in the eyes of family and friends.
Jarrod made the cut and of all the pictures I have taken of Jarrod, the ones with his friends and the other with his daughter Lusi after making the cut on comeback are some of the most memorable.
The last round of golf I watched Jarrod play was in Las Vegas the week after Nappa.
He fought hard again to make the cut giving us eight rounds of golf to watch in two weeks rather than the two rounds we were guaranteed when heading to the USA for the comeback tour.
He continued to inspire thousands around the world.
We were all devastated when the cancer returned in 2017. It wasn’t fair again for someone who had given so much.
I feel honoured to have spent time in hospital in his last fight. There were times when not a word was said for hours and others where we shared memories and laughter of our times together.
Jarrod was loved around the world by his peers and the public. He was a great man that cherished friendship and inspired others.
There was no greater tribute when Tiger Woods and most other players wore the LEUK badge after hearing of Jarrod’s latest battle.
Jarrod was dedicated to his charity work with Challenge. He inspired and gave hope to kids like himself in earlier years.
Robert Allenby inspired Jarrod with his work with Challenge and look what happened. The boy from Shepp with Leukemia inspired the world.
I saw Jarrod six days before his passing. My last few words to Jarrod were “Meet me on the first tee mate.”
Not sure when yet but I know you will be waiting. I’m sure he was thinking even a hacker could shank a ball 250 m down the middle in heaven.
We left singing the Melbourne Football Club song.
Miss you, mate. Happy 40th birthday.
RIP my friend.
To find out more about Jarrod’s ongoing legacy as part of Challenge – supporting kids with cancer, head to challenge.org.au/jarrods-gift/
Ray Sizer is a former photographer at the Shepparton News and friend of the Lyle family.
I was fortunate enough to get to know Jarrod on a really personal level.
To celebrate what would have been Jarrod Lyle’s 40th birthday, Challenge and the PGA have asked Jarrod’s family, friends, colleagues, and the infinite people he influenced, to share their favourite stories of the affable Tour Professional.
I was fortunate enough to get to know Jarrod on a really personal level.
So much so that he called me ‘Uncle Mick’, or at least he did when he was being respectful!
I caddied for 15 years on the PGA TOUR and I was lucky enough to caddy for several great players, such as Greg Owen, Daniel Chopra and Will Wilcox.
Not one person ever said a bad word about Jarrod. He was liked and respected by everyone.
I first met him as a fresh-faced kid in Thailand. I was caddying for Tripp Isenhour at the time, who was struggling on the Web.com Tour.
Tripp told Jarrod I was the man for him because Jarrod was already ready for the PGA TOUR. Little did I know the friendship that would follow.
We were firm friends right from the beginning, and became a really great team.
He gave me heaps of support off the course as well. There was a period of time when I didn’t have anywhere to live or base myself in the US and he let me rent a room at his house in Orlando.
We ended up spending a lot of time together and got to know each other really well.
On our weeks off we kicked the footy together, we went to the gym together (don’t laugh!), we got tattoos together (not matching), and we missed Australia together. We were just good mates.
He made sure I paid for everything as he had deep pockets and short arms!
We went to the range and practiced every day and then played a little four-hole course.
I lost every single time of course, which was a reflection of my golf skills but I also wanted to make sure he didn’t lose his confidence being beaten by a caddy!
He called me Uncle Mick most of the time, which changed to “The Fossil” when I started wearing glasses to read the yardage book.
Most of the time Jarrod talked about family, especially about Bri after they met.
I count myself one of the lucky ones to hear him speak so often about how much he loved her.
I know we both look like big, tough Aussie blokes, but we are both big soft marshmallows underneath it all.
I held him in my arms more than once when he cried about missing Bri, and again when he was filled with emotion to learn he was going to be a father.
He wasn’t just a friend, he was a mate, and we shared many a beer and many a laugh.
With Jarrod, what you saw was what you got. He was the most honest, genuine bloke you could meet.
I feel really lucky to have seen a side of Jarrod that not many people got to see, and I know for sure that his girls meant everything to him.
My father told me that you will have many, many friends along the way but you will be able to count your mates on one hand.
Jarrod was on my one hand as one of the best mates. I miss him, and I always will.
To find out more about Jarrod’s ongoing legacy as part of Challenge – supporting kids with cancer, head to challenge.org.au/jarrods-gift/
Mick was a professional caddy on the US Tour for 15 years and lived with Jarrod for a period of time.
Jarrod Lyle and I collaborated on a book along with our great friend Mark Hayes in 2016-18.
To celebrate what would have been Jarrod Lyle’s 40th birthday, Challenge and the PGA have asked Jarrod’s family, friends, colleagues, and the infinite people he influenced, to share their favourite stories of the affable Tour Professional.
Jarrod Lyle and I collaborated on a book along with our great friend Mark Hayes in 2016-18.
It was a labor of love for Jarrod; even back then he knew that he was facing challenges that were potentially overwhelming. He’d endured his third stem cell transplant to fend off the curse of acute myeloid leukemia, and he knew how rare that was.
Jarrod wanted to have something for his kids to remember him by, in this case, some words in a book. It was his call to do the book; Haysey and I were just the facilitators or ‘ghosts’, and as it happened, friends of his whose help he wanted.
It was a stop-start affair, the whole compilation process. When Haysey and I first sat down with Jarrod, it was in the Geelong Hospital and needless to say, he was not well. Had Jarrod ever said ‘can’t do it, I’m in hospital’, he would not have achieved much in his life. He hated them, but he virtually lived in them.
We had to work with that. We always had to factor in that Jarrod just might not be up to the interview process. Sometimes, we’d have to go months and months without seeing him at all. Ultimately I think Haysey and I saw it as our duty to get those words on a screen for posterity, just in case time ran out. It was the last thing that we could do for he and Briony and the kids.
Often, we went to the family home in Torquay so that he was comfortable. Right near the end, Haysey went to see him in the Royal Melbourne Hospital, when he was literally on his death bed, and he cracked a joke about which orifices the nurses may or may not have inserted instruments into.
He also knew he was about to check out. Now that would have been a hard interview.
Jarrod’s story is sad and fundamentally tragic, a life cut way too short. But the truth of it is, we laughed a hell of a lot through that process. Jarrod poured his heart out to us and so did Briony.
I think they got something out of the fact that we could talk about it all. And Jarrod was flat-out funny. As all of his friends know, he never took life too seriously.
Although sometimes, he could bear down on the hard facts. My most vivid memory of putting together his book is from the front room at Torquay one day. Jarrod was telling us about his great friendship with Dave Rogers, the Challenge CEO, and his voice broke just a little:
“Put it this way, if the worst happens, I know Lusi and Jemma will be all right …”
The tears came right then and they came for all of us. Jarrod, me and Hayesy, grown men just blubbering. Because Jarrod loved his family unconditionally, and he shouldn’t have been taken from them.
I miss those times. Most of all, I miss him.
To find out more about Jarrod’s ongoing legacy as part of Challenge – supporting kids with cancer, head to challenge.org.au/jarrods-gift/
Martin Blake is the co-author of ‘My Story – Jarrod Lyle’ and friend of the Lyle family.
Where does one start? I’ve got so many memories of Jarrod, and most bring a smile to my face.
To celebrate what would have been Jarrod Lyle’s 40th birthday, Challenge and the PGA have asked Jarrod’s family, friends, colleagues, and the infinite people he influenced, to share their favourite stories of the affable Tour Professional.
Where does one start? I’ve got so many memories of Jarrod, and most bring a smile to my face.
However there’s one memory that stands out, and for me it also exemplifies his determination.
It happened during his recovery phase at the Leukemia Foundation apartment in early 2018, where I was taking a turn in looking after him.
One morning I said that I intended to go up to the Vic Market to get some fresh vegies and meat.
A cheeky gleam came into Jarrod’s eyes and he said “I reckon I could come too!”
At that point in time, the furthest he’d been able to walk was across the road to Peter Mac for blood tests, so I was a little bit nervous about him being able to make it the several blocks (mainly uphill) to the market.
But I couldn’t dampen his enthusiasm, so off we set.
It was quite a warm day and it wasn’t long before he was breaking a sweat, but he didn’t slow down.
About halfway there he said “I can already taste that Kransky roll!”
This was the motivator he had in his head. Upon reaching the market, I became a bit bossy, telling him to sit and not touch anything as it wasn’t very clean and he had come out of a sterile environment.
Onlookers must have wondered if I was crazy as I got busy with disinfecting wipes.
I bought the things we needed and I brought back the kransky roll that he so desired.
A big grin broke across his face which made all the concern and effort worthwhile.
The walk back was not easy as it was even hotter and his legs were feeling like jelly, but he made it.
He was totally exhausted but ever so pleased with himself after so many weeks of inactivity.
It was a real milestone in his recovery process and he couldn’t wait to call Briony and tell her about it.
We were all really proud of him.
His determination to have that sausage was incredible, and something I’ll never forget.
Jarrod’s photo sits on our mantle and I often have a bit of a chat to the Big Fella with the infectious grin.
Remembered always.
To find out more about Jarrod’s ongoing legacy as part of Challenge – supporting kids with cancer, head to challenge.org.au/jarrods-gift/
Carol MacDonald is a former member at The Sands in Torquay and close friends of the Lyle family.
I’ve known Jarrod for a long time because I grew up playing golf around Victoria.
To celebrate what would have been Jarrod Lyle’s 40th birthday, Challenge and the PGA have asked Jarrod’s family, friends, colleagues, and the infinite people he influenced, to share their favourite stories of the affable Tour Professional.
I’ve known Jarrod for a long time because I grew up playing golf around Victoria.
I remember playing against him in Country Week when he would have been about 19.
In 2003 I gave up on my dream of being a golf pro and I moved to the US to become a professional caddy.
Over there I came to know Jarrod even better amongst the group of Aussie players and caddies who were all living and working on Tour.
I caddied full-time for Jarrod for about a year in 2010 and 2011, which included the time at the Phoenix Open when he got his hole in one. It’s an experience that I’ll never forget.
Our second round on Friday had been suspended due to bad weather, so we had to re-start on Saturday morning.
We got to the 16th at about 9.30am. Even at that early hour the ‘Party Hole’ stands were well over half full (it holds about 30,000 people) and Saturday is by far the biggest day of the week on the 16th.
The pin was front left, which is probably the hardest position because anything that lands left of the hole will end up off the green and leave a really tough up and down.
Jarrod was between clubs with the distance that day and ended up playing a little 8 because of the cold.
I remember he was telling it to sit after he hit it, but to me it looked great in the air. It took one big bounce, spun to the left, and went in.
The whole place erupted! I’ve never heard anything like it – it was so loud.
I had friends in the clubhouse at the time, which is at least 500 metres away, and they couldn’t believe how loud it was!
The Big Fella started waving his arms around, full of excitement, and high fived everyone on the tee.
It’s by far one of my favourite experiences on Tour, and to share that moment with Jarrod was incredible.
I’m so glad he got to experience something like that, and I’m even happier to know the footage is out there so we can all remember him at such an amazing moment.
When I got a call from Jarrod in 2014 to ask if I’d be his caddy for his first Web.com event after beating cancer for the second time, I couldn’t say ‘yes’ quick enough.
I was working for Justin Thomas at the time, and he wasn’t scheduled to play for a couple of weeks.
He knew all about Jarrod’s story and was a huge supporter of me carrying Jarrod’s bag. So I clicked my heels together and headed to Kansas.
What a week it turned out to be. Obviously there was a lot of great attention on Jarrod as the media was telling his story and celebrating his return, but it went from being a ‘feel good’ story and a fun walk between two mates to him putting himself in contention to win the event. Typical Jarrod – not letting anything be an obstacle!
It was clear at the start of the week that he hadn’t regained all of this previous physical strength, so we adjusted his game to suit his strength, which was ball striking.
Of course he went one better and shot a bogey-free four under in the first round, which probably surprised him more than anyone else. He kept his great form all week.
We basically laughed and talked crap all the way around and, in typical Jarrod fashion, if he hit a bad shot he just handed me the club and off we went to find the ball. I remember him saying on a short par 4 “Well mate, we can make a two and try to win, or lay it up to be safe.”
This was followed straight away by “Shorty, we aren’t here for a hair cut!” and out came his driver.
We finished 11th that week, but he gave himself several chances to win and it was exactly what he needed to get back out there. It was probably one of the best weeks I’ve had on tour.
Just to see him back on the range was emotional, let alone out on the course.
It was such a privilege to see a good mate get back out there again, doing what he loved and what gave him so much joy and happiness. I was so lucky to have experienced that with him. I know he felt the support from everyone who was following him that week, and it probably inspired him to go that extra step because he wanted to make others happy more than himself.
He was a guy who deserved way more than life handed him.
Mate, you’re really missed and we are worse off without you here. Thank you for having me stand with you that week. I will never forget it.
To find out more about Jarrod’s ongoing legacy as part of Challenge – supporting kids with cancer, head to challenge.org.au/jarrods-gift/
Jason Shortall was a professional caddy on the PGA Tour for 16 years.
On the most part, it’s unusual to make friends later in life. By the time we hit our mid-20s, we seem to have a full friend roster and aren’t looking for anyone new.
To celebrate what would have been Jarrod Lyle’s 40th birthday, Challenge and the PGA have asked Jarrod’s family, friends, colleagues, and the infinite people he influenced, to share their favourite stories of the affable Tour Professional.
On the most part, it’s unusual to make friends later in life. By the time we hit our mid-20s, we seem to have a full friend roster and aren’t looking for anyone new.
You can gather acquaintances, plenty of them. You can have a month-long bromance with the fellow that has, perhaps, discovered golf the same time as you and is recently single.
Suddenly beers and 8km walk while lugging around a bag of metal sticks becomes a twice weekly routine for you and your new pal, but that always seems to dwindle and you return to your original friendship line-up.
Like a coach that just loves playing his trusted players.
That’s why I feel Jarrod is special. It’s rare to meet someone and connect with them instantly.
A connection that never seemed to wear off. A new friendship in our late 20s. How did this happen?
We had a good foundation on which to build this mateship: golf.
Jarrod was good at it. Freakishly, naturally good at it.
I’d followed him during his professional career, so I was excited to exchange phone numbers with a golfing great during a Pro-Am in 2010.
He may have regretted being so friendly as he became the person I would call if my friends and I were ever arguing about a rule mid-round.
He’d turned into a telephonic rule official, without ever applying for the job, and held the position for over seven years.
Often on these calls, he’d pick up in my voice the way I was hoping the ruling would fall and adjust his verdict accordingly. That’s what friends are for.
I miss ya mate, and not just because I have to Google the rules now 
To find out more about Jarrod’s ongoing legacy as part of Challenge – supporting kids with cancer, head to challenge.org.au/jarrods-gift/
Andy Lee is a comedian and media personality, but most importantly a Challenge ambassador.
I hadn’t been senior enough at the Herald Sun to write the Jarrod Lyle story when he went within a whisker of victory at the 2005 Heineken Classic as essentially a newly minted professional.
To celebrate what would have been Jarrod Lyle’s 40th birthday, Challenge and the PGA have asked Jarrod’s family, friends, colleagues, and the infinite people he influenced, to share their favourite stories of the affable Tour Professional.
I hadn’t been senior enough at the Herald Sun to write the Jarrod Lyle story when he went within a whisker of victory at the 2005 Heineken Classic as essentially a newly minted professional.
And by the time he was front and centre in a Moonah Classic a few years later and I was covering the tournament, he’d been left with a nasty taste in his mouth by media treatment of an incident involving his family that ended in court.
Jarrod was, shall we say, circumspect with his answers. Well, circumspect with a side of profanity is probably more accurate. “Your *^%#ing paper’s &^%$. Why would I help you *&#%$?” is my rough memory of the conversation.
I assured Jarrod that my interest was purely in his scorecard – nothing more or less. I suspect it was against his instinct that Jarrod answered a couple of questions. But it wasn’t until he saw me on course the next day that the ice began to crack.
Like most pros I’ve encountered, once Jarrod knew I was genuinely interested in him and not some tawdry headline, I could barely shut him up.
It’s my belief that being a golfer is but one part of their lives and when they trust you to speak about their additional loves, that’s when you’ve spanned the divide from distant, “doing your job” reporter to something approaching a friend.
Don’t get me wrong, Jarrod was passionate about his golf. But he had so much more going on away from the fairways.
That passion ultimately became Briony, Lusi and Jemma, but from very early on in his way-too-short life, it was always about people. Always.
It was his mates; it was his teammates; it was his fellow patients; it was the hundreds of children who adored his hospital visits; it was the media he enthralled; and it was the endless time he gave his beloved Dave Rogers and the Challenge charity that shapes so many families’ lives in moments of unrivalled need.
And it didn’t stop until his final breath.
As Martin Blake and I helped compile his book and events took their ultimately tragic twist, we all knew that we had to get those “last thoughts”.
I thought back to those first few awkward moments we’d shared at Moonah, right through to this – one of the most gut-wrenching hours I’ll ever spend.
That was just days from his final demise, yet when I opened the door and Jarrod realised I was there, I got my traditional, “G’day knackers”, then noticed that he was still holding court with those he counted as his inner circle. It was extraordinary.
The pinnacle of human frailty on show, yet he still gave – to his crew and then to me.
If you read his book, those words were made into the first chapter. If you saw how he’d diminished at that point, you’d find that even more staggering than those words already are.
I’m still honoured to say that I’d clearly passed his trust test by that stage.
And I will always be amazed that even in that hour of crisis, Jarrod remained about “you”, not him.
To find out more about Jarrod’s ongoing legacy as part of Challenge – supporting kids with cancer, head to challenge.org.au/jarrods-gift/
Mark Hayes is the co-author of ‘My Story – Jarrod Lyle’ and friend of the Lyle family.
I didn’t personally know Jarrod for very long, but I always knew of him, as most in the golfing world did.
To celebrate what would have been Jarrod Lyle’s 40th birthday, Challenge and the PGA have asked Jarrod’s family, friends, colleagues, and the infinite people he influenced, to share their favourite stories of the affable Tour Professional.
I didn’t personally know Jarrod for very long, but I always knew of him, as most in the golfing world did.
It wasn’t until he started working in the pro shop at the Sands that I got to know him well – and what a privilege it was.
The memories of him sitting on the back counter as we watched the golf on TV will stay with me forever.
I would ask him what he thought about a particular player, then he would tell me about them which would lead to many other stories, with me just hanging on every word.
Everyone that came into the shop was blown away to see the Big Fella.
It would make their day and it always made mine to see the smiles he put on the face of every person he came in contact with.
He would often see people he crossed paths with at various events or people he knew from Shepparton, and would then go on to tell stories from his childhood which were absolute rippers.
We would both then go on for ages talking about our childhoods and the time would fly by with lots of laughs.
The one-liner I will never forget is: “Hey Frank, looks like we’re working together again next week. We can have a chat about solving all the world’s problems again!”
I couldn’t wait till that next shift.
We were both very passionate about the Sands and always spoke about ways to grow the whole facility for members and the public and grow the game of golf around Torquay and the Surf Coast.
Jarrod was about to start his bridging program so he could start teaching and I have no doubt it would have been a huge success.
When I got a call from Bri to say, “Jarrod is in palliative care and has requested to see you” I felt humbled and honoured.
The big fella and I had a good chat about a few things. Mainly it was about the Sands and how he wanted me to carry through what we had spoken about.
While we were chatting his phone was going off. Names like Fowler, Leishman and Scott were popping up – but he had time for me.
I do miss the big fella dearly and wish he was still around.
One of the greatest things I have done was to help organise and take part in his memorial golf day.
I hope to be involved in the golf day for years to come to help Jarrod, Bri and the Challenge Foundation carry on Jarrod’s legacy.
All I can say is “you f****** beauty”. Miss ya big fella.
To find out more about Jarrod’s ongoing legacy as part of Challenge – supporting kids with cancer, head to challenge.org.au/jarrods-gift/
Frank Myers the former Golf Operations Manager at The Sands Torquay.
To be honest, even though I had taught a lot of really good golfers before Jarrod Lyle, it wasn’t until I had spent a few years coaching him that I understood what “it” actually was.
To celebrate what would have been Jarrod Lyle’s 40th birthday, Challenge and the PGA have asked Jarrod’s family, friends, colleagues, and the infinite people he influenced, to share their favourite stories of the affable Tour Professional.
To be honest, even though I had taught a lot of really good golfers before Jarrod Lyle, it wasn’t until I had spent a few years coaching him that I understood what “it” actually was.
If you asked someone who knew nothing about golf to walk the driving range at a tournament and pick the best player, they would rarely get it right and if they did it would probably be a lucky guess.
The reason? It’s not about swing, physical build, etc but rather what’s inside the golfer’s head.
Professional golf, in reality, is a simple game: have one shot less than the cut line and you play the weekend. Have one shot less than everyone else and you win the trophy and a big cheque.
Some players always seem to come up one shot short when it matters, but Jarrod was typically the player who managed to come up one shot better.
I saw this time and time again when Jarrod was still an amateur – he would beat players who looked more athletic and textbook when it came to their games, but when it mattered they couldn’t beat him.
This ability to hit the right shot when it mattered showed itself when Jarrod holed a wedge on the final hole to win the Port Macquarie Amateur by a shot.
This ability also carried on into his professional career where he was building momentum in the toughest tour of all until health stood in the way.
In my mind, there’s no clearer example of how being a winner is so much about what’s in between your ears than when Jarrod made the cut in the 2013 Aussie Masters at Royal Melbourne.
Physically Jarrod had no right to make the cut that week, and for those who followed him in the first two rounds you could see him willing the ball into the hole because in his mind he still knew how to get the job done.
For those who followed him in the final two rounds, we could clearly see that he was spent but he had proved he still had “it”.
So what is the “it” that Jarrod had? Simply, it’s the absolute belief that he could do it. The ability to ignore all those who are happy to be negative and put doubt in a weaker person’s mind.
Most importantly of all the ability to make a decision when everything is on the line and be fully committed to its execution.
Accept when it doesn’t go right, bounce back and do it all again with the same commitment. That “it” is the rarest of all skills, which is why there are so few winners both on and off the course.
Jarrod had “it” right to the end.
The last time I spoke to him was the day he was heading to palliative care. He said to me “I am happy with my decision to stop fighting, I am not happy to leave my girls but I have given ‘it’ everything and got what I got. See ya mate.”
To find out more about Jarrod’s ongoing legacy as part of Challenge – supporting kids with cancer, head to challenge.org.au/jarrods-gift/
Sandy Jamieson is a PGA Professional who coached Jarrod Lyle.
What I loved about Jarrod was his everlasting buoyancy every single time I saw him.
To celebrate what would have been Jarrod Lyle’s 40th birthday, Challenge and the PGA have asked Jarrod’s family, friends, colleagues, and the infinite people he influenced, to share their favourite stories of the affable Tour Professional.
What I loved about Jarrod was his everlasting buoyancy every single time I saw him.
There was something so great about seeing him at an event and having him come up to me with a big grin on his face and say, “How the f**k are you mate?” then we’d go back and forth giving each other shit for a few minutes, having a laugh at each other’s expense.
I miss that.
He had such perfect, infectious energy that made my day, every single time. Then he’d move on and do the same thing with someone else.
As I said, infectious.
What a wonderful man. Happy 40th, Big Fella!
To find out more about Jarrod’s ongoing legacy as part of Challenge – supporting kids with cancer, head to challenge.org.au/jarrods-gift/
Greg Chalmers is a decorated international golfer competing on the PGA TOUR, and is a friend of Jarrod.
