Bryson DeChambeau donates $25K long-drive contest winnings to family of cancer-stricken golfer
UPDATE: Jarrod Lyle has reportedly died at age 36 after ending cancer treatment
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Bryson DeChambeau is supporting Jarrod Lyle’s family with the money he won Tuesday at Bellerive Country Club.
DeChambeau won the long-drive contest ahead of the PGA Championship in St. Louis with a 331-yard drive. The contest includes a prize of $25,000 to the charity of choice for the winning pro and DeChambeau said he’s donating the money to the fund for the family of fellow golfer Jarrod Lyle.
Lyle’s wife Bri announced on July 31 that Jarrod, 36, had entered palliative care and treatments for his acute myeloid leukemia would be stopped.
Bryson DeChambeau won the Long Drive Competition on Tuesday. He donated his $25,000 in charitable winnings to Jarrod Lyle's family.@b_dechambeau #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/p68PcawSSz
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) August 8, 2018
“Jarrod Lyle, the story, it’s just so sad,” DeChambeau said. “His kids are suffering, obviously, from it and the whole family is. And I just thought it would be the right thing to give it to [daughters] Lusi and Jemma. They deserve that and they need that more than anything right now.”
The Golf Channel reported Wednesday evening that Lyle was in a coma.
According to Golf Digest, Tiger Woods’ Foundation made a $10,000 donation to the fund for Lyle’s daughters.
Lyle was first diagnosed with cancer at 17
Lyle was initially diagnosed with cancer when he was 17. His latest fight with leukemia has been his third; he found out it had returned in 2017.
He earned his PGA Tour card in 2007 and won two tournaments on the second-tier Web.com Tour in 2008. He last played professionally in May of 2017 and had received a haploidentical transplant — where healthy blood cells are infused into a patient’s body — in December.
Players wore yellow ribbons for Lyle at the WGC-Bridgestone
The yellow ribbons that adorned the hats of many golfers at the Bridgestone Invitational a week ago were in honor of Lyle. Bridgestone winner Justin Thomas dedicated his victory to Lyle.
“Our entire Tour family is grieving this news, but we certainly respect and support his decision to spend the coming days with his beautiful family – it’s a decision true to everything he has stood for throughout his life and career: grace, dignity and an unending love of family,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said after Bri made what she said would be the final post to Jarrod’s Instagram page in July. “We are respecting Jarrod’s family’s request for privacy, but they know we are here for whatever they need during this difficult time and beyond.”
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
