The Victorian who made an emotion-charged return to tournament golf on Thursday is continuing into the weekend. Fulfilling his stated aim, he made the cut when he carded an even-par 71 at Royal Melbourne today in the Talisker Masters, comfortably into the top 60 players who will continue tomorrow. The 32-year-old knew that he was safe once he hit an iron to four metres from the pin at the 18th hole today. Afterward, he admitted it was like winning a tournament. &apos&aposYes, I felt like I had a two shot lead on that last hole and all I wanted to do was just dribble it up so I did not screw it up and miss the cut. So my caddy said to me, walking down the fairway, he goes &aposLet&aposs roll this in and finish even-par.&apos And I just looked him square in the eye, I said: &aposMate, I will take two putts, that will do me&apos.&apos&apos Lyle, who suffered a recurrence of leukemia in 2012, has not played a tournament in the past 20 months, having previously played himself on to the United States PGA Tour. He has a medical exemption from the tour and intends returning to play on the lucrative circuit, but he has just five events to play before he must put it on the line. He was in tears on the first tee on Thursday, but today, it felt like a normal tournament. Apart from the fact he was dog tired. “Last night I knew I had played 18 holes, the legs were a bit heavy. They were a little bit heavy again today, but, you know, if I have to crawl those last 18 holes, mate, I am crawling them, nothing is going to stop me from finishing.&apos&apos
Author: Martin Blake / Royal Melbourne Golf Club