Jarrod Lyle returns to PGA Tour from leukemia fight – SFGate
Jarrod Lyle, a good-natured 33-year-old from Australia, sat at a microphone answering questions in advance of this week’s Frys.com Open in Napa. His wife, Briony, watched from the back of the room. Their daughter, Lusi, bounced around as restless 2-year-olds do, eager for her daddy to finish.
Just another routine Wednesday on the PGA Tour?
Hardly.
Barely more than 2½ years ago, in March 2012, Lyle received horrifying news: His leukemia, which he first battled at age 17, had returned. The timing was astounding and unnerving, because Briony was nearly nine months pregnant, soon to deliver little Lusi.
The couple made a difficult decision, delaying Jarrod’s treatment so he could witness Lusi’s birth. He cut the umbilical cord, spent less than a day with his wife and daughter, and then checked into another hospital — back in chemotherapy, back in another fight for his life.
Lyle’s presence at Silverado Resort, then, counts as remarkable and inspiring. Thursday morning at 7:15, for the first time since his medical ordeal resumed, he will tee off in a PGA Tour event.
Boy, is he ready.
“If it wasn’t for my wife, I probably wouldn’t be here,” Lyle said. “She made the doctors delay my treatment so I could be at the birth, to see my daughter born and have that to hang onto as I was dealing with what I was dealing with. … I owe a lot to her for kicking me in the ass, pretty much.”
Lyle wasn’t sure he could even have kids, given the chemotherapy he endured as a teenager. That’s why he calls Lusi a “miracle child” and savors the time he spends with her and Briony, as they travel around the country in their RV.
The odyssey took them to four Web.com Tour events in July and August, and then to Yocha Dehe Golf Club in Brooks (Yolo County) on Monday. That’s where the final four spots in the Frys field would be awarded. Lyle shot 66, putting him in an eight-man playoff.
He earned his spot by sinking a 25-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole. That was a landmark moment, in many ways — the culmination of a long, harrowing journey — but Lyle wasn’t quite sure how to react.
“I gave myself a little fist pump and thought, ‘I’ve done it,’” he said. “But in the car on the way home, I kind of screamed like a little girl.”
Briony, who had stayed back in the RV with Lusi, didn’t need any more drama.
“I asked him, ‘After all we’ve been through, did it really have to be an eight-way playoff?’” she said, smiling. “Couldn’t he have made it a little more stress-free? But here we are, and we really couldn’t be happier.”
Lyle especially enjoyed the past two days, wandering around Silverado catching up with old friends on the PGA Tour. Many fellow players had reached out to him, by text or phone, after the leukemia returned.
Golf Channel also got several tour pros to speak briefly on camera at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March 2012, offering their support. That turned into a DVD, which found its way to Lyle during his treatment and recovery.
He cried for 45 minutes the first time he watched it.
Lyle ultimately spent almost five months in the hospital. All the while, Briony was caring for a newborn baby and helping search for a potential bone marrow donor for her ailing husband.
An adult donor couldn’t be found, so Lyle’s doctors decided to try a double umbilical cord blood transplant (the blood has the kind of stem cells he needed). One cord came from a baby in Germany and the other from a baby in the United States.
The transplant was by no means sure to work — Lyle developed a scary, lingering fever in the aftermath — but it ultimately set him on a healthy path. He takes a penicillin tablet every morning but otherwise requires no ongoing treatment.
Through all this, Lyle’s sense of humor remains intact.
“I’ve obviously annoyed somebody somewhere —- they’ve chucked it at me twice now,” he said of the disease. “But I don’t think I’ve ever said, ‘Why me?’ I’m very proud that I’ve never sort of backed away from the fire. I’ve just gone into this head first. … I’m not going to let it beat me.”
Now, finally, he can compete again at the game’s highest level. Lyle still must scramble to keep his PGA Tour card — he’s playing on a major medical exemption and needs to earn $283,825 in his next 20 starts.
Lyle doesn’t know how his game will hold up, but he’s thrilled to have the chance. His peers are thrilled, too. As Keegan Bradley succinctly tweeted Tuesday: “Respect for @jarrodlylepga #amazing.”
Ron Kroichick is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: [email protected] Twitter: @ronkroichick
At a glance
What: PGA Tour’s Frys.com Open
Where: North Course, Silverado Resort, Napa
When: 7 a.m. Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.
TV: Golf Ch., 2-5 p.m. daily
Tickets: (408) 487-4653
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