Lyle set to reclaim PGA Tour status

BY Bruce Young | Nationwide Tour | 2008 Knoxville Open | Round Three | 22 Jun 2008

Jarrod Lyle

(Photo: Getty Images)

It would appear that Victorian golfer, Jarrod Lyle, is just 24 hours away from confirming his status on the USPGA Tour in 2009.

Lyle leads the Nationwide Tour’s Knoxville Open in Tennessee by one shot heading into tomorrow’s final round after a third round of 67 has him one ahead of American D.J. Brigman. Already with US$191,000 to his name on the 2008 Nationwide Tour money list, a top ten finish in the event should be sufficient to guarantee Lyle a return to the PGA Tour. In 2007 the 25th placed Nationwide Tour player had earnings of US$197,000 and while it may be a few thousand higher this season, a top ten this week should get the job done.

25 players are guaranteed status on the 2009 PGA Tour via this season’s Nationwide Tour. Although Lyle staked his claim early in the season with a win in Mexico and three other top tens in his first six starts, a good day tomorrow will ensure he has no concerns for the remainder of the season. He can then push for even higher honours on the money list as it is important for players to not only make the top 25 but to finish as high on the list as possible to maximise the number of early season starts next year.

There are still 15 events remaining on this season’s tour and so, either way, graduation would not have proved a problem for Lyle but it would no doubt be comforting for him to have his initial goal out of the way.

Should Lyle win this week then the door is open for the possibility of gaining his immediate PGA Tour status via the Battlefield Promotion category. With one win already under his belt and a second if he was to win tomorrow, then one further victory would give him the three Nationwide Tour victories in a season necessary for immediate elevation to the PGA Tour. His fellow countryman, Nick Flanagan, achieved this feat in 2007.

Lyle played the PGA Tour in 2007 after a successful season on the Nationwide Tour in 2006 but finished 164th on the money list and was forced to return to PGA Tour Qualifying where he missed out on regaining his status.

Over the past two months Lyle’s game had deserted him and he was even considering returning to Australia for a break before his father convinced him he should at least attempt US Open qualifying. He comfortably made it through at his particular venue and then made the cut at Torrey Pines before finishing 48th in just his second major championship start.

It seems that effort has spurred him on as after missing four of his last five cuts on the Nationwide Tour, the 26-year-old appears back on track.

Won Joon Lee is the next best of the Australians in 24th place but eight shots behind Lyle.

Top 10
AUS/NZ

Position	Score	Player	R 1	R 2	R 3	R 4	Total
1	-19	Jarrod Lyle	66	67	67	69	269
2	-19	Chris Kirk	66	70	66	67	269
T3	-17	D.j. Brigman	67	64	70	70	271
T3	-17	Kyle Reifers	71	69	65	66	271
T5	-16	Chris Smith	67	67	70	68	272
T5	-16	Doug Barron	69	67	66	70	272
T7	-15	Jeff Brehaut	67	71	67	68	273
T7	-15	Spencer Levin	69	67	68	69	273
T9	-13	Arjun Atwal	66	70	68	71	275
T9	-13	Bob May	68	69	70	68	275
T9	-13	Brad Fritsch	69	67	68	71	275
T9	-13	Greg Chalmers	68	68	73	66	275
T9	-13	Rich Barcelo	69	71	68	67	275
T14	-11	Reid Edstrom	68	68	72	69	277
T14	-11	Thomas Hagler IV	71	68	63	75	277
T14	-11	B.j. Staten	71	68	67	71	277
T14	-11	Chris Tidland	72	67	67	71	277
T14	-11	J.j. Killeen	70	71	67	69	277
T14	-11	Matt Weibring	68	67	70	72	277
T14	-11	Scott Dunlap	69	71	66	71	277
T14	-11	Scott Parel	70	69	65	73	277
T14	-11	Sebastian Fernandez	67	70	67	73	277
T14	-11	Wade Ormsby	68	67	74	68	277
T24	-10	Bradley Iles	70	70	71	67	278
T24	-10	Brendan Steele	72	69	70	67	278
T24	-10	Garrett Osborn	72	68	70	68	278
T24	-10	Keoke Cotner	70	68	66	74	278
T24	-10	Matt Bettencourt	71	70	64	73	278
T24	-10	Tee Mccabe	70	68	72	68	278
T24	-10	Tim O'neal	70	68	72	68	278
T31	-9	Jim Herman	70	69	72	68	279
T31	-9	Josh Broadaway	71	69	67	72	279
T33	-8	Brendon De Jonge	71	68	69	72	280
T33	-8	Brian Stuard	70	67	72	71	280
T33	-8	Chris Anderson	68	73	69	70	280
T33	-8	Darron Stiles	73	67	70	70	280
T33	-8	John Kimbell	72	64	69	75	280
T33	-8	Kelly Grunewald	67	72	69	72	280
T33	-8	Ryan Hietala	71	69	71	69	280
T33	-8	Stephen Gangluff	69	72	73	66	280
T33	-8	Tom Johnson	68	69	68	75	280
T42	-7	Miguel Angel Carballo	69	68	74	70	281
T42	-7	Gibby Gilbert III	69	69	70	73	281
T42	-7	Esteban Toledo	71	69	69	72	281
T42	-7	Jeff Gallagher	73	67	69	72	281
T42	-7	Randy Leen	73	68	70	70	281
T42	-7	Tommy Tolles	72	67	69	73	281
T42	-7	Won Joon Lee	69	69	70	73	281
T49	-6	Dicky Pride	71	70	68	73	282
T49	-6	Jim Rutledge	71	68	69	74	282
T49	-6	Joe Daley	70	67	74	71	282
T49	-6	Ricky Barnes	71	68	75	68	282
T53	-5	Brock Mackenzie	72	67	71	73	283
T53	-5	Scott Gutschewski	68	72	72	71	283
T53	-5	Scott Piercy	72	69	71	71	283
T56	-4	Caleb Marsh	71	67	77	69	284
T56	-4	Keith Nolan	70	68	73	73	284
T56	-4	Tyler Williamson	70	70	74	70	284
59	-3	Michael Putnam	70	68	72	75	285
T60	-2	Philip Pettitt, Jr.	72	66	70	78	286
T60	-2	David Mckenzie	75	66	74	71	286
T60	-2	Mark Walker	71	69	73	73	286
T60	-2	Scott Gardiner	68	71	74	73	286
64	+1	Kyle Mccarthy	71	70	74	74	289
65	+5	Jason Enloe	69	71	74	79	293
Cut -4
CUT	-2	Ben Willman	73	69	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Brad Lamb	74	68	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Colt Knost	71	71	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Dustin Bray	73	69	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Garrett Willis	74	68	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Garth Mulroy	72	70	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Justin Hicks	70	72	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Ted Brown	73	69	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Todd Fischer	72	70	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Tom Carter	70	72	-	-	142
CUT	-1	Darren Angel	74	69	-	-	143
CUT	-1	Anders Hultman	74	69	-	-	143
CUT	-1	Bryce Molder	72	71	-	-	143
CUT	-1	Chris Parra	73	70	-	-	143
CUT	-1	David Peoples	73	70	-	-	143
CUT	-1	Fabian Gomez	71	72	-	-	143
CUT	-1	Glen Day	75	68	-	-	143
CUT	-1	Nick Malinowski	75	68	-	-	143
CUT	-1	Skip Kendall	73	70	-	-	143
CUT	-1	Vance Veazey	76	67	-	-	143
CUT	Ev	Gary Christian	71	73	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Andrew Johnson	73	71	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Aron Price	74	70	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Ben Bates	75	69	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Brad Ott	74	70	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	John Scott Rattan	73	71	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Lee M. Williamson	71	73	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Michael Boyd	72	72	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Mike Heinen	75	69	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Oskar Bergman	70	74	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Willie Wood	75	69	-	-	144
CUT	+1	Brad Weesner	75	70	-	-	145
CUT	+1	Brendon Todd	71	74	-	-	145
CUT	+1	Bubba Dickerson	71	74	-	-	145
CUT	+1	Christo Greyling	75	70	-	-	145
CUT	+1	Grant Waite	75	70	-	-	145
CUT	+1	J.l. Lewis	73	72	-	-	145
CUT	+1	Paul Gow	71	74	-	-	145
CUT	+1	Rob Bradley	77	68	-	-	145
CUT	+1	Spike Mcroy	73	72	-	-	145
CUT	+1	Steve Pate	73	72	-	-	145
CUT	+2	Jonathan Fricke	75	71	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Tony Mollica	74	72	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Tyler Aldridge	75	71	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Bret Guetz	77	69	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Chris Thompson	70	76	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Craig Bowden	73	73	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Daniel Summerhays	78	68	-	-	146
CUT	+2	David Morland Iv	72	74	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Ian Leggatt	75	71	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Matt Every	72	74	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Roger Tambellini	75	71	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Zoran Zorkic	74	72	-	-	146
CUT	+3	Chad Ginn	73	74	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Geoffrey Sisk	73	74	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Brent Delahoussaye	72	75	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Cameron Percy	79	68	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Josh Mccumber	75	72	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Robert Damron	73	74	-	-	147
CUT	+4	Charles Gibson	74	74	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Bryan Decorso	78	70	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Guy Boros	74	74	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Jason Schultz	75	73	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Steven Bowditch	72	76	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Tripp Isenhour	72	76	-	-	148
CUT	+5	Fernando Mechereffe	77	72	-	-	149
CUT	+5	Barney Alary	80	69	-	-	149
CUT	+5	Robin Freeman	78	71	-	-	149
CUT	+6	Scott Moran	77	73	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Travis Hampshire	75	75	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Bradley Hughes	78	72	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Ewan Porter	72	78	-	-	150
CUT	+7	Jon Rusk	72	79	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Ryan Blaum	81	70	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Walt Chapman	78	73	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Blaine Mccallister	73	78	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Brian Unk	73	78	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Chris Kamin	76	75	-	-	151
CUT	+8	Scott Feaster	79	73	-	-	152
CUT	+8	Andrew Bonhomme	78	74	-	-	152
CUT	+8	Bob Burns	75	77	-	-	152
CUT	+9	Kevin Johnson	74	79	-	-	153
CUT	+10	Kim Felton	74	80	-	-	154
CUT	+10	Scott Harrington	75	79	-	-	154
CUT	+10	Stuart Deane	77	77	-	-	154
CUT	+13	Scott Gordon	82	75	-	-	157
CUT	+13	Patrick Damron

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Lyle set to reclaim PGA Tour status

BY Bruce Young | Nationwide Tour | 2008 Knoxville Open | Round Three | 22 Jun 2008