Australian golfer Jarrod Lyle dies after long cancer battle

Th 36-year-old's wife announced his passing on Thursday

Australian golfer Jarrod Lyle. EPA

Australian golfer Jarrod Lyle has died after a long struggle with cancer. He was 36.

"It breaks my heart to tell everyone that Jarrod is no longer with us," the golfer's wife, Briony Lyle, said in a statement on Thursday.

"He passed away peacefully at 8.20pm last night having spent his final week among his family and close friends."

Briony Lyle said her husband had asked her to pass on a "simple message: 'Thanks for your support, it meant the world. My time was short, but if I've helped people think and act on behalf of those families who suffer through cancer, hopefully it wasn't wasted.'"

Lyle, who won twice on the Nationwide Tour in 2008, was first diagnosed with leukaemia as a teenager and suffered recurrences of the disease in 2012 and 2017.

He returned to the US PGA Tour in 2013 after apparently having beaten cancer for a second time.

But the illness returned and Lyle last week announced his decision to forego further treatment and enter palliative care.

He was survived by Briony and daughters Lusi, 6, and Jemma, 2.

"Lusi, Jemma and I are filled with grief and now must confront our lives without the greatest husband and father we could ever have wished for," Briony Lyle said.

"At the same time, we have been blessed and overwhelmed with the messages and actions of support from around the world and feel comforted that Jarrod was able to happily impact so many people throughout his life. Our humble thanks to you all."

Lyle was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in 1999 when he was 17. He spent much of the next nine months in a hospital in Melbourne and it was another year after that before he could walk around a golf course.

He gradually reduced his handicap to scratch and earned a golf scholarship before turning professional in 2004. He qualified for the Asian Tour in 2005 and started playing on the second tier of the US tour in 2006.

After an another setback he made an emotional comeback to a Victorian state golf course during the 2013 Australian Masters before using a medical exemption to play on the U.S. PGA Tour in 2015.

Lyle underwent a bone marrow transplant last December following a recurrence of acute myeloid leukemia but opted recently not to continue with treatment after saying he'd "reached his limit" and that he and his doctors had agreed that a "positive outcome" was no longer achievable.

Lyle's sense of humor and courageous comebacks made him popular with fans and fellow golfers.

Robert Allenby, who has four wins on the PGA Tour among his 22 worldwide, has known Lyle for 20 years- their first meeting when he signed an autograph at the Australian Masters for a then 16-year-old fan and the second when Lyle was first in hospital the following year.

"We met because I was his hero. He has been mine ever since," Allenby wrote in a recent tribute on PlayersVoice. "What I would come to realize over time is that Jarrod possesses a determination, grit and inner strength unlike anybody I've met in my life. His will to survive and smash the odds is incredible. I draw strength just from being around him."

Another Australian golfer, Greg Chalmers, said it "is through a river of tears I say goodbye to my friend Jarrod Lyle".

"A wonderful father, friend and golfer. Quick with a joke, didn't mind a beer, and just a pure joy to be around every day," Chalmers posted on Twitter. "Miss you mate. RIP."

The family said a private family service would be held in the coming days with a public memorial service in Torquay, near Melbourne in Victoria state, at a later date.