December 05, 2008

A KICK in the pants from his dad over dinner spurred Jarrod Lyle to the lowest round of his budding career after he attacked a softened Coolum resort course with nine birdies in a record equalling 63 on Friday.

One of golf's great stories, Lyle, diagnosed with cancer in 1999, took his father John's advice and went at the pins with more aggression, charging up the Australian PGA second-day leaderboard.

It was a case of father knows best for the burly 27-year-old, who played the last seven holes of his first round and Friday's 18 holes in 11-under to be nine-under and in the lead late in the day.

"I sat down with my dad over dinner and pretty much had an argument about everything I've been doing and stuff. Something kind of snapped in me today and I hit it really good," said Lyle.

"He told me I was not taking advantage of the holes I used to gobble up.

"I can't fault today, I think today was perfect. I went at the flags when it was on and when it wasn't I just tried to give myself a putt."

Lyle's Army - five mates from his home town of Shepparton decked out in green shirts - cheered every putt that dropped.

Lyle, who has a John Daly-like physique as well as some of the American's larrikin ways, lost his US Tour card in 2007.

As strange as it sounds, surrendering a card on the US Tour offering $US70 million in prizemoney and some generous perks may have been just what was needed.

It forced Lyle back onto the secondary Nationwide Tour, where he won twice and finished fourth on the money list.

"That could have been the best thing to happen to me," he said candidly.

"Now I've learned how to win. I've won twice this year and looking back on the experiences from last year's US Tour, it's going to help me a lot next year.

Lyle is totally committed to being a professional golfer to set himself up for life.

But he admits being away from his family and his girlfriend Briony Harper is an extremely lonely existence.

"It's a lonely life," said Lyle, who rises at 7.30am when he's back home to help clean Spag Hollow, the restaurant he part owns with his family in Shepparton.

"I'm over there (US) by myself, all my family is back in Shepparton.

"It's very hard to have not only a family relationship via phone but also a girlfriend via phone.

"It's like having an internet lover that you don't see.

"I have these moments when I wake up and think, man, I wish I was back home with all my friends and family."

Mathew Goggin matched Lyle's tournament score of nine-under with a second round 68 after his earlier 67.

After a less than exciting front nine of 36, Goggin produced a late eagle, storming home in just 32 shots.

"I was barely awake on the putting green and it showed early," said the father of two, who got out of bed at 4am to finish his first round.

The shot of the day belonged to Nathan Green, who banged a seven iron into the hole at the par-three 11th.

Unfortunately for him, it didn't carry the same $500,000 prize as his ace in the Australian Masters in 2001.