With his PGA Tour opportunities quickly dwindling, Jarrod Lyle has returned home to Australia in search of his game.
Lyle has made only one cut in seven starts this season, and has missed his last five cuts in a row. The most recent in that string came last week at the Puerto Rico Open, where his second-round 79 equalled his worst round as a professional.
In an update to his website, Lyle admitted that his performace on the Isle of Enchantment left him looking for answers.
“I went into that event with lots of confidence and felt that I’d done plenty of positive preparation in the weeks prior. So to say I was disappointed with the outcome is an understatement,” Lyle wrote. “I was completely shattered. I just could not get my head around how badly I had played, when the time has definitely come for me to be pulling out some great golf.”
When Lyle returned to the Tour in the fall of 2014 after a second bout with leukemia, he was equipped with a major medical extension that gave him 20 starts to earn $283,825 in order to keep his card. But since last January, Lyle has missed 13 of 15 cuts, with his best result a T-63 finish last fall at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
That leaves the 34-year-old with only three starts remaining in which to earn $209,111 or face the loss of his PGA Tour privileges.
“It’s no secret that I have barely made any money at all. It is incredibly frustrating, and demoralizing, to feel as though my career is slipping away,” he wrote. “I believe my biggest challenge so far has been lack of consistency due to not being able to play enough consecutive events. I just can’t quite get any momentum happening, nor can I tweak my performance from week to week under tournament conditions to try and bring the best out of my game.”
Lyle will now return to Australia one month earlier than he had originally intended. The change of plans will allow him to be with his wife, Briony, who is due to give birth to the couple’s second child shortly. While Lyle looks forward to some extra family time, he still hopes to sharpen his game and plans to make his final three Tour starts in July.
“Does this mean I’m giving up on golf? NO WAY! I will still be working hard and practicing as much as I can while I’m home,” he wrote. “I still love the game (most days!), and it’s still the only thing I really want to do. I’m really not sure what life looks like without golf, and I’m not ready to find out.”
