| With his father Alex a golf professional at Hawkstone Park,Shropshire
the young Sandy Lyle certainly did not go short of encouragement in his
early years. His fine junior record marked him out as a player with an
outstanding future and Lyle has certainly gone onto achieve great
success during his playing career. He won the 1975 English Amateur
Stroke-Play Championship at the age of 17 - by which stage he had been a
junior international for three years. Sandy followed up that victory
with a second triumph two years later and that same year he played in
the Walker Cup before making the natural progression into the pro ranks.
His first tournament win as a professional came in early 1978,at the
Nigerian Open,where he opened in quite scintillating fashion with rounds
of 61 and 63. He finished the year in a highly respectable 49th place
in the Order of Merit and was named Rookie of the Year. Lyle had served
notice that he was a star in the making and the following year he truly
announced his arrival by becoming the first British player since Peter
Oosterhuis five years previously to top the Order of Merit. That year he
enjoyed his first taste of success on European soil with success at the
Jersey Open and followed that up with victories at the Scandinavian
Open,the Scottish Professional and the European Open. That European Open
win saw Sandy at his imperious best as he romped home by seven strokes
after closing the tournament with a magnificent effort of 65 which
included seven straight 3s at the start of the round. Later that year he
made his Ryder Cup bow - scoring one and a half points from a possible
four - in a 17-11 defeat for the first ever European team. (David Scranage) |