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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.
Memories can be funny things. Over time they can fade, distort or even completely disappear.
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.
Memories can be funny things. Over time they can fade, distort or even completely disappear.
Meeting Jarrod Lyle for the first time, that’s a memory I will never forget. The big fella in full flow, the definition of unforgettable.
I take you back to the Moonah Classic of 2010. Jarrod was having a good tournament, he was in the mix. As an on-course reporter for Channel Ten, it was my job to speak to the golfers post round.
Such interviews are usually very staid affairs. Pro golfers are typically pretty straight after their round. They can shoot a 62 and barely crack a smile. Shoot a 76, it can be a monosyllabic insight into five hours of torture.
The big boy, it would be fair to say, wasn’t your typical golfer in this respect. After being close to the lead mid round on Saturday, he struggled over the closing stages.
Having never met Jarrod, I wasn’t sure what I was going to get when he was ushered my way for a post round chat. Would he refuse to do it like some? Would he be philosophical? Positive? Negative?
In this situation you normally get 30 secs to say g’day, introduce yourself and then go live with the interview.
“Gday Jarrod, Mark Howard mate. Thanks for giving me some of your time.”
And this is why I will never forget my first memory of Jarrod Lyle. Big broad smile, drink in hand, sweat pouring off him. A big meaty handshake delivered.
“Gday knackers. Geez I f***ed that up near the end didn’t I. Bloody hell!” Then a laugh so boisterous, it turned heads on a green 30 metres away. Another thunderous laugh. More heads turned.
I knew from that first meeting that Jarrod Lyle was my type of golfer. My type of man.
There are very few athletes that if you didn’t know how they performed on the day and you are about to interview them, that you can’t pick their performance by their body language or demeanour.
Craig Lowndes was one. First or last. You wouldn’t know. Jarrod Lyle was another.
Getting to know Jarrod from that point, I was always struck by the same thought when I was around him. This bloke should be playing footy in front of 80,000 at the MCG, or walking into a ring with music blaring ready to fight for a world title. Golf? From where I sat, it couldn’t contain the big fella. He was too raw and full of life for it.
Polite golf claps? Jarrod Lyle was more your roaring-from-the-top-of-his-lungs style of operator.
A wave to the crowd on 18? How about a big, sweaty, bloody bear hug.
A gin and tonic post round? Six beers thanks.
A BMW slowly leaving the course? A Holden V8, doing patchy’s out the front gate. That was J.
Golf needs more blokes like Jarrod Lyle. Life needs more blokes like Jarrod Lyle. But there will only ever be one Jarrod Lyle.
He was, quite simply, unforgettable.
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 Howard is a distinguished sports commentator on TV and radio, and is host of the popular Howie Games podcast.
A run of four straight birdies midway through his second round have all but secured New South Welshman Brett Drewitt a return to the PGA Tour.
Starting the final event of the regular season 22nd in the Korn Ferry Tour standings, Drewitt likely needed to make the cut to secure one of 25 PGA Tour cards to be handed out at the conclusion of the Pinnacle Bank Championship in Nebraska on Sunday.
An opening round of 2-over 73 put that prospect in serious jeopardy but the 30-year-old rallied with a second round of 4-under 67 to sit in 40th position on the leaderboard, highlighted by four consecutive birdies from the 15th hole after starting his second round from the 10th tee.
Six-under through 15 holes, Drewitt dropped shots at both the seventh and eighth holes but by qualifying for the weekend has ensured that his PGA Tour fate now solely rests in his hands.
“I’ve looked at the standings. I know I’m 95 per cent of the way there. It’s going to take a lot from other guys to pass me,” said Drewitt, who made nine cuts in 19 starts in his only previous PGA Tour season in 2017.
“Obviously my No. 1 goal for this week was to make the cut, give myself four days to play and the best chance.
“I don’t want to leave it in someone else’s hands. I just wanted to play four good rounds of golf. Didn’t want to think about the number. Let myself take care of it.”
With two more rounds locked up, Drewitt’s sitting in a great spot barring some major moves from those behind him, but still he’s not taking anything for granted over the weekend. He knows what’s on the line for everyone this weekend at The Club at Indian Creek.
“It means a lot. There’s jobs on the line. There’s promotions on the line,” said Drewitt, who grew up in Inverell in north-west NSW.
“As much as all these players are going to miss Pumpkin Ridge and Portland, I think this is a great venue to have the finale. It’s a tough golf course, there’s rough, can be wind, it’s firm. It’s in great condition.
“There are going to be some good finishes on the weekend for guys to get their card and for guys to keep their jobs for next year.”
Cameron Smith (-9) has given himself an outside chance of winning Australia’s first Olympic medal, while compatriot Marc Leishman (E) slipped further down the leaderboard in the third round at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
Tokyo’s hottest weather of the week did not faze the Queenslander as he went bogey free in a five-under par round of 66 to be T11.
He was steady throughout the day, but scrapped it out early as he missed the fairway with his opening three tee shots.
His well-renowned short game kept him in it and he quickly found momentum with a trio of birdies on the fifth, sixth and seventh.
After the turn, the top-ranked Australian dropped a monster birdie putt from the fringe on the 11th and put his approach shot on the 13th to within half a metre for another birdie.
He parred his way in from there, but he had done what he had to do.
“I thought if I shot five or six under today it would get me close enough to where if I had another good one tomorrow I could be in the running for a medal,” Smith said.
“So it was nice to go out there after a pretty poor start to hang in there and shoot that.”
Smith will need something special on Sunday to make up the five shots he trails leader Xander Schauffele (-14) by.
“It’s going to take a good one,” he said.
“But if I can get out to a start like I did those first couple of days, make a few birdies in the first four or five holes, I think I’ll be looking at it differently.
“I just need to go out there and do that.”
The nature of the Olympic tournament has caused Smith and the rest of the field to look at things differently all week.
“It’s just a different mentality,” Smith said.
“If you get off to a scrappy start in a tour event you can still sort of wiggle your way up there and get some good points, whereas this week, all you think about is those first three spots.”
It is a shame that no crowds will be present to witness the final round, but Smith has relished the Olympic experience regardless.
“I mean, the crowds would make a massive difference but nonetheless the Aussie boys have had a great week off the course,” he said.
“It’s been so much fun and it’s not very often you get to represent your country.
“I’m pretty proud. Proud to be an Aussie.
“The Aussies are going great in the Olympics so far and hopefully we can keep it going.”
Fellow Australian Marc Leishman had another difficult day on Saturday with a one-over par round taking him back to even par for the tournament at T49.
Entering the back nine at one-over for the day, Leishman looked to have rallied with birdies at the 13th and 15th, but bogeys on the final two holes finished off a disappointing day for the Victorian.
Meanwhile, overnight leader Schauffele (-14) held steady at the top with a three-under par round of 68 to hold a one shot lead from Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.
Schauffele looked to have left the door ajar for his rivals when he bogeyed the 16th, but from 160m out on the 18th he put it to within a metre to finish the day with a birdie and the momentum.
Matsuyama is nipping at his heels however, and a four-under round of 67 has him primed to medal with his only blemish for the day coming via a bogey on the first.
The American and the Japanese hometown hero will once again be a final pairing on Sunday after playing the final round at this year’s Masters together when Matsuyama triumphed.
Teeing off slightly before them will be Great Britain’s Paul Casey and Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz, who are both one shot behind Matsuyama.
Casey has been a picture of consistency across the tournament shooting 67, 68 and 66 so far, while Ortiz stumbled on the 18th today by missing a par putt from within a metre.
Another shot back at eleven-under par are Columbian Sebastian Munoz, Irishmen Rory McIlroy, Chilean Mito Pereira and Austrian Sepp Straka.
The remainder of the chasing back consists of Great Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood (-10), Ireland’s Shane Lowry (-10), Mexico’s Abraham Ancer (-9), Italy’s Guido Migliozzi (-9) and Smith.
Spend a scant amount of time scouring social media through the second round of the Olympic men’s golf competition and two schools of thought emerge.
The first is that with so many of the best players in the world notable by their absence that winning an Olympic gold medal is akin to taking out the Barbasol Championship in the same week of The Open. (No disrespect Seamus Power.)
The other is a more broad-minded sense of discovery as names such as Carlos Ortiz (2nd, 10-under), Mito Pereira (T3, 8-under) and Jazz Janewattananond (T7, 7-under) send even seasoned scribes searching for either a phonetic guide or references to how they arrived at Kasumigaseki Country Club from Mexico, Chile and Thailand respectively in the first place.
So how will golf at the Olympics be received if Ireland’s chief golf ambassador Rory McIlroy is our gold medalist come Sunday?
Attracting attention on day one for his revelation that his head is too small for any caps not custom-made by Nike, McIlroy was one of the big movers on Friday courtesy of a round of 5-under 66.
While world No.5 Xander Schauffele and a cast of unheralded players continue to hold strong at the top of the leaderboard, five birdies and an eagle saw McIlroy climb into a share of seventh and give those ahead of him cause to consider a McIlroy charge.
Like our own Adam Scott, McIlroy has been ambivalent about Olympic golf since its return in 2016 and arrived at Tokyo with the demeanour of a man who would prefer to be elsewhere but knew playing was the right thing to do.
“I missed it last time and for golf to be an Olympic sport you need your best players there. I want to represent the game of golf more than anything else,” said McIlroy at the conclusion of The Open at Royal St George’s with all the enthusiasm of a dad contemplating a night at a primary school recital.
His comments regarding the shock withdrawal of US gymnast Simone Biles due to mental health concerns solidified his place as golf’s voice of reason and with two strong rounds over this weekend will become a talking point of his own.
The last of his four major championships came almost seven years ago; his last top-five finish in golf’s four showpiece events coming with a runner-up finish at the 2018 Open.
His win at the Wells Fargo Championship in May broke an 18-month winless drought but questions remain about the 32-year-old’s prospects of multiple major wins as his career enters its latter phase.
So how would an Olympic gold medal be received?
Vindication that golf’s leading lights place the same importance on a gold medal as the greatest athletes on the planet? Or proof that a sub-standard field of just 60 players drawn from 35 countries was easy pickings for one of the greatest talents the game has seen?
McIlroy himself has very much gotten high on Olympic spirit since arriving in Tokyo and is already contemplating the full Olympic experience in Paris in three years’ time.
“That’s the thing that maybe not being in the Olympics last time I didn’t understand,” McIlroy said. “When your sport is in the Olympics and you’re all a part of something that’s a bit bigger than yourself, your sport. That’s a great thing.”
If he arrives at Le Golf National in 2024 as defending Olympic champion it may prove to be a transformative moment for the sport.
And for McIlroy.
Imagine for a moment that you turn on the news next week and hear that Rohan Browning has qualified fastest for the semi-finals of the men’s 100-metre sprint.
Imagine for a moment that you turn on the news next week and hear that Rohan Browning has qualified fastest for the semi-finals of the men’s 100-metre sprint.
Rohan who?
Rohan is the first Australian to contest the men’s Olympic 100m in 17 years and if he does qualify for the final will go from obscurity outside of athletics to a Weet-Bix packaging poster boy in little more than 10 seconds.
Now consider for a moment how Sepp Straka’s round of 8-under 63 to lead the men’s golf competition by two strokes – a competition that includes 12 of the top 30 players in the world and 2021 major winners Hideki Matsuyama and Collin Morikawa – might be hitting Austrians full to the brim with Olympic spirit.
Austria’s three medals to date at Tokyo 2020 have come in cycling (one gold) and judo (a silver and bronze medals) so for a country of almost nine million people – and of whom only 100,000 are registered golfers – a golden golf moment has the potential to be transformative for the game in that country.
Before play was suspended on Thursday due to the threat of dangerous weather as some players only just entered the back nine at Kasumigaseki Country Club, the opening round of the men’s golf competition threw up a number of familiar names for regular golf followers.
Belgian Thomas Pieters (65, T2) is a four-time European Tour winner, Carloz Ortiz (65, T2) is a winner on the PGA Tour and Viktor Hovland (67), Paul Casey (67) and Xander Schauffele (68) are all inside the top-25 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
But those who question golf’s validity as an Olympic sport citing the players not in Japan to strengthen their argument are missing the point entirely.
Look not to the names on the leaderboard but the flags that they represent to know why golf’s inclusion is not as important now as it is for the future of the sport.
There are 35 countries represented within the 60 competitors, the flags of France, America and Sweden the only ones to appear twice in the top 21 rows on the leaderboard at the suspension of play.
Austria, Belgium, Mexico, Denmark, Thailand and Colombia don’t have a single men’s major champion between them yet they are the flags flying highest on the leaderboard one quarter of the way through this pursuit of gold medal glory.
We can debate the format that is used to determine the medalists but perhaps more than any other sport Olympic golf has the potential to reach the most number of people in all corners of the globe and engage their interest.
As the sales of rowing machines and swimming goggles in Australia experience a post-Olympic euphoria-infused surge inspired by our gold medal winners, if an underdog such as Straka, Ortiz or Sebastian Munoz wins gold on Sunday they and the game will be celebrated in those countries like never before.
And golf’s status as a bona fide Olympic sport will never again be brought into question.
The eyes of the sporting world are squarely focused on Tokyo right now and golf fans have waited patiently as other Olympic sports have taken the spotlight. That wait is now over.
Play in the men’s Olympic Golf competition gets underway on Thursday when the biggest names in men’s golf tee it up at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
Recent major winners Collin Morikawa and Hideki Matsuyama headline the field with the latter having the weight of local expectation on his shoulders.
For Australia, Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman are making their Olympic debuts and Australian fans are hoping their camaraderie is a recipe for success.
The Australian pairing won together at the Zurich Classic earlier this year, but the Olympic tournament is individual stroke play.
However, they have proven in the past that they feed off one another and individually, both players enter the tournament with solid recent form.
Smith was in contention for most of The Open, while Leishman finished third at the Travelers Championship.
Australian golf fans are in a fortunate position to watch the Australian pairing go for gold, thanks to a friendly time zone and dedicated golf coverage on 7plus.
The 7plus app will allow fans to tune into the golf on any device – you can watch on your smartphone, tablet, computer or stream to a smart TV.
Each day, coverage begins on 7plus at 8:30am AEST and continues until the final group finishes at 5:00pm AEST.
Channel 7 or 7mate may elect to show the golf throughout the tournament, but the main coverage is as follows (Australian Eastern Standard Time):
Thursday, 8:30am: 7plus
Friday, 8:30am: 7plus
Saturday, 8:30am: 7plus
Sunday, 8:30am: 7plus
The medal ceremony will take place at 5pm AEST on Sunday.
Olympic men’s golf tee times Thursday AEST
9.41am Marc Leishman, Hideki Matsuyama, Corey Conners
11.14am Cameron Smith, Viktor Hovland, Garrick Higgo
You can also stay up-to-date with all the latest information at https://www.igfgolf.org/, https://www.golf.org.au/ and https://pga.org.au/ throughout the tournament.
Or via our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Watch the Olympics at https://7plus.com.au/olympics
It was a difficult opening day for the Australian contingent at The Open with nine Australians shooting above par.
Cam Smith (-1) was the only Australian to break par, while Scottish Open champion Lucas Herbert finished one shot behind Smith at even-par.
Thursday’s play was heavily influenced by Royal St George’s notoriously strong afternoon winds, which many of the Australian’s struggled to combat.
Most players with red numbers alongside their name teed off in the morning, prior to the wind picking up, and those with a morning tee time today are excited to get their turn at playing in calmer conditions.
The unwavering Smith, who is five shots behind leader Louis Oosthuizen, will be looking to surge up the famous yellow leaderboard when he tees off at 10:20am local time alongside Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed.
“It was quite brutal out there this afternoon, to be honest. Windy, gusty. I don’t think the morning boys quite had the gust. When the wind gets up and down like that it’s just tough to read,” the Queenslander said after his opening round of 69.
“Hopefully we get a morning like that tomorrow.”
Brad Kennedy is one over-par in his first start at The Open Championship since 2012 and he is also hoping for more favourable conditions.
“I think it would be nice to have a 50/50 consistency between Thursday and Friday for both sides of tee times,” the 47-year-old said.
“So maybe we might get a little bit of calmness tomorrow, and yeah, if we’re fortunate enough to get a few decent flags that we can go at, I think there’s a good score out there tomorrow morning.”
Australia’s usual suspects of Adam Scott (+3), Jason Day (+5) and Marc Leishman (+5) will also be looking to use their morning tee times to launch themselves up the leaderboard.
Round 2 Tee Times (AEST)
Jason Day (+5) 4:19pm
Aaron Pike (+4) 4:30pm
Brad Kennedy (+1) 4:41pm
Marc Leishman (+5) 5:14pm
Jason Scrivener (+3) 5:36pm
Matt Jones (+2) 6:36pm
Adam Scott (+3) 7:09pm
Cam Smith (-1) 7:20pm
Deyen Lawson (+10) 7:53pm
Min Woo Lee (+4) 9:31pm
Lucas Herbert (E) 11:15pm
Marc Leishman came close to pulling off a miracle victory at the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship in Connecticut today, but his thoughts were with the family of a close friend afterward.
Leishman shot a stunning 66 to post 12 under par and for a time at TPC River Highlands, it looked like he might either reach a playoff or even win the event outright, a little like he did in the same tournament in 2012.
He held the clubhouse lead for several hours but just when he headed to the driving range to warm up again, Harris English buried a birdie putt from almost 10 metres on the par-four 18th hole to post 13 under.
By the time Kramer Hickok matched English’ birdie at the 18th to force a playoff, Leishman was down to third place, having to be content with $US510,000 prizemoney.
“I knew that I needed to have a really low one to have a chance,” he said after his round.
“Probably think that birdie on 17, possibly 18, may have helped my chances a lot. Would’ve helped my chances a lot. That’s pretty obvious. Yeah, happy with the day. I mean, game is feeling really good. Nice to make a run and be around the lead. Not holding my breath, but I won’t be going anywhere.”
The Australian said he had endured a “tough day” after the death of John Mascatello, his US agent, aged 61. “(I) was definitely thinking about that and trying to — it was kind of — made things a little — golf is obviously not the be all end all.
“Thinking of his family. Not getting over the line or who knows, but probably not getting over the line, yeah, that’s kind of irrelevant at the moment.”
Cameron Smith fell away on the final day having started out with a winning chance, shooting a 74 to dip to tied-30th, while Adam Scott vaulted up to tied-13th with a 67 today.
Jason Day finished tied-10th after a closing 70 while Lucas Herbert (69) completed a good week in 19th place.
A return to a trusted putter and a flare-up of the back complaints that have marred his career of late have brought the Jason Day of old to the fore at the Traveler’s Championship at TPC River Highlands in Connecticut.
Winless on the PGA TOUR for more than three years, without a top-five since last August and fresh off missing his first US Open in a decade, the confidence Day has spoken of all year seemed misguided.
Yet the decision to put his TaylorMade Spider putter back in the bag and ongoing stiffness related to the back injury that forced his withdrawal from the Memorial Tournament three weeks ago somehow elicited a round of 8-under 62 on Friday for a one-shot lead at the halfway mark of the tournament.
A double-bogey at the par-4 10th in his opening round saw the 35-year-old open the tournament with a 1-under 69 but he wiped that sour memory from his mind to go out in 32 and then surge up the leaderboard across the TPC Rover Highlands front nine.
Birdies from two and 13 feet at the first and second holes respectively were followed by a tap-in birdie at four and then a 36-foot bomb at the par-3 fifth. His eighth and final birdie of the day came from 12 feet at the par-4 seventh to post 9-under through 36 holes and a one-shot lead from three-time champion Bubba Watson and Kramer Hickok.
“Sometimes when you do have sort of an injury or stiffness, even if you’re sick, sometimes
you can come out and play some good golf,” was Day’s reasoning but his somewhat surprising position through two rounds.
“It’s sore to get onto the other side of the golf swing, so any time going left was a little bit sore.
“It is what it is. I haven’t had time to really rest it since I kind of put it out. Having a couple weeks off was great, but you just need a little bit more time.
“I was fortunate enough to not really get in my own way today. Hit a lot of good quality drives and my tee to green was pretty solid, I thought. Then holed a lot of crucial putts out there.”
Without an equipment contract, Day started using a SIK putter last month but said a return to the TaylorMade Spider-style flatstick he used to become one of the game’s best putters brought back some familiar sightlines and more familiar results.
“Just going back to something that felt a little bit more square to me,” said Day, currently ranked No.71 in the world.
“I was looking down at the putter and just wasn’t lining up correctly. To me felt a little bit closed.
“I crossed myself up and wasn’t trusting my line. So going back to the Spider, which sits a
little bit more open for me, I can trust the line that I’m aiming at.
“It’s nice to be able to visualise a ball going in the hole again instead of thinking, Am I going to hole this putt?
“Nice to be able to do that.”
With Day out in front the next best of the Australian contingent are 2021 Olympians-elect Marc Leishman (66) and Cameron Smith (68) in a tie for 20th at 5-under with Cameron Percy and Matt Jones a shot further back after both had 66s in the second round.
A round of 3-under 67 saw Lucas Herbert safely inside the cut number at 3-under with Adam Scott also qualifying for the weekend with consecutive rounds of 1-under 69.
