Adam Scott sits in second place heading into the final round of the 2018 PGA Championship, and his old friend Jarrod Lyle will be on his mind on Sunday.
Scott is no stranger to major championship pressure. He’s proven himself before, most notably during his victory at the 2013 Masters. He won’t be playing for himself, though.
As he told reporters Saturday evening, Scott wants to win this one for Lyle, who died this week after a long battle with leukemia. He was 36.
“Well, I mean it would be more than twice the thrill for me, but I think no matter who wins tomorrow I think if that person has met Jarrod Lyle, then they will have felt something with him passing this week.”
Lyle was Australian, like Scott, and the Australian pro golfing community is especially tight-knit. The Aussies in the field at Bellerive have expressed their heartbreak all week. Lyle suffered through three separate bouts with acute myeloid leukemia and made multiple comebacks to pro golf during the fight.
All players at the PGA Championship are paying tribute to Lyle by wearing a yellow ribbon on their hats this week.
“It’s been such a difficult thing I think for us to get our heads around because we have been removed from Jarrod and his family back in Australia and everything happening so suddenly last week and then this week. I don’t even really know if we have all really had time to reflect on it and let it sink in. But I think that a part of everyone’s playing for Jarrod out here this week,” Scott said on Saturday.
As Scott said, even if he and fellow Australian Jason Day fail to lift the Wanamaker Trophy Sunday evening, Lyle will be at the forefront of everyone’s thoughts.
