Jarrod Lyle Struggles, Returns Home

While everybody was going wild over Tiger's announcement that he wouldn't be playing the Masters next week -- no big surprise, if you've paid any attention to what he's said in the past few months -- the struggles of another player have been pretty much ignored.

Two-time cancer survivor Jarrod Lyle has gone back to Australia, in hopes of finding his game.



I first caught the news Friday in Will Gray's blog post at the Golf Central Blog, and linked from there to the April 1 post in Jarrod's personal blog. To make a long story short, Jarrod has been struggling to get his game back on track and, with only three more events left to make $283,825 and keep his PGA Tour card, he's headed back home Down Under to see if he can put things back together.

Jarrod says he isn't quitting golf but, after a 79 in the Puerto Rico Open last week, he's demoralized. He's decided to go home early and spend more time working with his coach. And it doesn't hurt that his wife Briony is expecting their second child in a few weeks, so Jarrod will have more time with her and daughter Lusi before the new baby arrives.

Let's all wish Jarrod a successful reboot to his career... and a healthy new addition to his family. Sometimes you just have to go back to the beginning and start again. At least he has a happy beginning to start with!

The photo came from the photo gallery page at Jarrod's blog.