Jarrod Lyle makes a tearful comeback at the Australian Masters after beating leukaemia
WATCH NOW: FIGHTING to focus through misty eyes, Jarrod Lyle relaunched his career to thunderous acclaim.
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FIGHTING to focus through misty eyes, golfer Jarrod Lyle relaunched his career to thunderous acclaim at Royal Melbourne on Thursday.
An emotional Lyle wept when he prepared for the opening drive after being introduced on the first tee for the Australian Masters opening round.
And the tears flowed again after the cancer survivor walked to the ropes to hug his wife Briony and ruffle the hair of young daughter Luci before setting off down the fairway with fellow Victorian Geoff Ogilvy and Zimbabwe's Brendon De Jonge.
"It was nice to get out there and see everybody that I love standing around the tee. And even people that I've never met before, the crowd on the first tee was something I wasn't expecting,'' Lyle said after shooting a one-over 72.
"To hear Luci call out Daddy and I turned around and thought I've got to find her to give her a cuddle. That was it, that was the end of me, I was an absolute mess.
"I hit that first tee shot with tears all through my eyes. Normally I would've backed off, but I said no, I wanted to get it over as quickly as possible.
"I tried to keep the emotions in check, but I also wanted to let them out a little bit as well. I didn't want to keep them in the whole day. A few tears walking off the first tee after we all hit was enough to let it all go and go and play golf.''
Lyle, in remission from a second bout of leukaemia, will strive to build on that fighting start in Friday's second round to make the halfway cut and play at the weekend.
The 32-year-old quickly underlined the magic was still there when he rifled a three-wood second shot onto the green at the par-five second hole for his first birdie.
"That three wood I hit onto the green on the second hole was probably the best shot I've hit in 20 months ... I haven't played in 20 months, bit of a joke there,'' Lyle wisecracked to the media.
"My dream is to come here and make the cut. After 12 holes, things were looking a bit grim, but me being the fighter that I am, I didn't want to let the round disappear and blow myself out. So I fought like crazy.
"I hit a great shot at 14 to about five feet and made that for birdie and gave myself a little fist-pump because it meant a lot to me to make that birdie and get the score back to what I thought would be reasonable.''
After what Lyle has endured, no wonder he wasn't even fazed when his tee shot at the ninth hole lodged waist-high in a bush and he had to take a penalty drop.
"That ball in the trees was the funniest thing I've seen. I could see it from 30 yards down the fairway and was thinking I hope that's not my ball,'' he said.
"I said to my caddie and Brendon, the bogeys that I've made don't hurt. It just didn't seem to matter today. It will when I come back full-time, but it's just a bogey and it's not the last one I'm going to have.''
Australian Masters Pro Am at Royal Melbourne Golf Club. Jarrod Lyle during todays rain soaked pro am. Pic Michael Klein. Wednesday November 13, 2013.
Lyle has a medical exemption to return to the US PGA tour when he feels he's tournament-tuned to compete on the game's toughest stage.
"Twelve months ago at this exact tournament, I was saying I didn't know whether I would ever play golf again. To stand up on the first tee and hit that first shot and see what has happened over the last 20 months with my life and my wife's life and my daughter's life, everything was there and it was, I guess, just a happy place I was in at the time. Just glad to get that first one away,'' he said.
"I'm limiting myself to see what happens come Sunday afternoon and then I'll reflect for a moment and enjoy being able to play golf again and then sit down and really think about what needs work, what need attention, what do I need to do to get myself back to being PGA tour ready.''
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