The Loop

Jarrod Lyle receives the PGA Tour Courage Award

December 01, 2015

The scene at the first tee at the 2013 Australian Masters was one of the most emotional moments in golf in quite some time. As Jarrod Lyle made his first appearance after his battle through two bouts of leukemia last November, it marked a full recovery back to professional golf.

Fellow Aussie Geoff Ogilvy was paired with Lyle that day. Ogilvy has been on the first tee at golf's biggest stages. The 2006 U.S. Open champion says, in reference to that first tee, "nothing’s been like that first tee experience for me," calling it an unbelievable and incredible scene.

"Australians aren’t generally the emotional type. But that moved everybody. There wasn't a dry eye in the place," he told Golf Digest in the fall of 2014.

The PGA Tour has honored Lyle's bravery with the PGA Tour Courage Award, presented to a player who, "through courage and perseverance, has overcome extraordinary adversity, such as personal tragedy or debilitating injury or illness, to make a significant and meaningful contribution to the game of golf."

Lyle is only the second-ever recipient of the Courage Award, with double heart-transplant recipient Erik Compton receiving the award in 2013.

In 2012, Lyle was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia after overcoming cancer as a kid, too. Lyle played 11 events in 2015 and will have eight events remaining on his Major Medical Exemption for 2016.