Damian Drum (Murray, National Party, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week, Shepparton lost one of its great sporting heroes in professional golfer Jarrod Lyle, who passed way at the age of 36. Jarrod is survived by his wife, Briony, and two daughters, Lusi and Jemma. His love of golf began at the Shepparton Golf Club, where he caddied for his father as a six-year-old and worked on his game nearly every day after school. Jarrod was first diagnosed with cancer as a 17-year-old in 1999.

Jarrod played in the PGA Tour for several years, which, as anybody who knows anything about golf and a world tour knows, is an amazing effort—just to play on that tour year after year. He made a huge contribution as an ambassador for Challenge, an organisation that supports kids with cancer. Along with Robert Allenby he raised millions of dollars for children with cancer through that charity. The Shepparton Golf Club has held five editions of a junior tournament named after Jarrod, called the Jarrod Lyle Junior Classic. Tributes to Jarrod from around the world have come from Jason Day, Greg Chalmers, Ernie Els and Tiger Woods. And today, in the final round of the PGA Championship, Adam Scott dedicated his final round to Jarrod Lyle.

I send my wishes to Jarrod's wife and two children, his parents, John and Sally, his sister Karli and his brother Leighton, who himself is an outstanding golfer. I just want to make sure that the wishes of this parliament are with the Lyle family.