Mark Ryan Lye (born November 13, 1952) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who played on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

and the

Champions Tour PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many years ...

Early life

Lye was born in

Vallejo, California Vallejo ( ; ) is a city in Solano County, California and the second largest city in the North Bay region of the Bay Area. Located on the shores of San Pablo Bay, the city had a population of 126,090 at the 2020 census. Vallejo is home to the ...

. He attended

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

, where he was a three-time All-American on the

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

team. He graduated in 1975 and turned pro later that year.

Professional career

Before Lye joined the PGA Tour he played in Australia. He won the Australian Tour's 1976

Colgate Champion of Champions The Colgate Champion of Champions was a golf tournament held at Victoria Golf Club (Australia), Victoria Golf Club, Melbourne in Australia in 1976 and 1977. Prize money was A$150,000. Winners References

{{reflist Former PGA Tour of Austral ...

by one stroke over New Zealand's

Simon Owen Simon Owen (born 10 December 1950) is a professional golfer from New Zealand. Early life Owen was born in Wanganui. Professional career He turned professional in 1971 and has won several tournaments in Australasia. He played on the Europe ...

and two over

Kel Nagle Kelvin David George Nagle AM (21 December 1920 – 29 January 2015) was an Australian professional golfer best known for winning The Open Championship in 1960. He won at least one tournament each year from 1949 to 1975. Biography Nagle was bor ...

. Lye did not even expect to stay in Australia after he failed to qualify for that year's

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

. A friend encouraged him to remain and play in the Melbourne event. After a 70-71 start, he was three under, six shots behind Nagle. Lye then shot 68-67 to defeat a field that included, in addition to Owen and Nagle, 1975 U.S. Open champion

Lou Graham Louis Krebs Graham (born January 7, 1938) is an American professional golfer who won six PGA Tour tournaments including the 1975 U.S. Open. Most of his wins were in the 1970s. Lou Graham was born in Nashville, Tennessee. He started playing g ...

1975 Open Championship The 1975 Open Championship was the 104th Open Championship, played 9–13 July at Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland. In his first Open, Tom Watson won an 18-hole playoff by one stroke over Jack Newton to win the first of his eight major title ...

winner Tom Watson, and recent Australian Tour champion

Greg Norman Gregory John Norman AO (born 10 February 1955) is an Australian entrepreneur and retired professional golfer who spent 331 weeks as world number one in the 1980s and 1990s. He won 89 professional tournaments, including 20 PGA Tour tournament ...

. Lye went on to win the 1976

PGA Tour of Australia The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ra ...

Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...

. Lye joined the PGA Tour in 1977. He was a full-time member of tour from 1977 to 1991. In 1980 he finished 39th on the money list, with two runner-up finishes. Three years later, in 1983, he recorded his only victory on the PGA Tour, at the

Bank of Boston Classic The New England Classic was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour from 1969 through 1998. It was held under various names at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton, Massachusetts. Tournament highlights *1975: Roger Maltbie wins for the second consecu ...

. Lye was eight shots behind in a tie for 16th when the round started. He did not hold even a share of the lead until the 69th hole of the tournament. He birdied three of the final four holes for a 64 (−7) to win by one shot. Later in the fall, at the last event of the season, he had a runner-up finish at the

Pensacola Open The Pensacola Open was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour. The inaugural version of the tournament was played in 1956 and its last edition in 1988. Tournament highlights * 1960: Arnold Palmer birdies the 72nd hole to win by one shot over Doug San ...

. He had six top-10s in total for 1983, his most ever, and finished 28th on the money list, his best ever. Lye's win qualified him for the

1984 Masters Tournament The 1984 Masters Tournament was the 48th Masters Tournament, held April 12–15 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Ben Crenshaw won the first of his two major titles, both Masters, two strokes ahead of runner-up Tom Watson, the wi ...

. He shot first round 69 (−3) and then surged to a three shot lead after a 66. He fell back a little after a third round 73 but was still in second place, one behind

Tom Kite Thomas Oliver Kite Jr. (born December 9, 1949) is an American professional golfer and golf course architect. He won the U.S. Open in 1992 and spent 175 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 1989 and 1994. Career Kite wa ...

. He had a final round of 74, finishing T-6, his best finish in a major championship. Lye had an additional four top-10s in 1984 and finished 43rd on the money list. In 1995, at the age of 43, Lye tore a ligament in his right hand at the

FedEx St. Jude Classic The FedEx St. Jude Classic was a professional golf tournament held in Memphis, Tennessee as a regular event on the PGA Tour. The tournament was held annually from 1958 through 2018, and was played in June at TPC Southwind (since 1989). In 2019, ...

and retired from the tour. He then began working as an analyst for

The Golf Channel Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply Golf) is an American sports television network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, it is currently based out of NBC Sp ...

, eventually rising to lead analyst for men's tournament coverage. After reaching the age of 50 in November 2002, Lye joined the

as a part-time player. His best finish on that tour was a solo 9th at the 2004

Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn The Greater Hickory Kia Classic at Rock Barn was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour. It was played annually in June in Conover, North Carolina at the Rock Barn Golf & Spa. The purse for the 2014 tournament was US$1,600,000, with $240,000 go ...

. To compete in select Champions Tour events, Lye transitioned to being an on-course reporter. In August 2015, Lye was hired as one of the cohosts of "The Scorecard," a pregame show for Saturday and Sunday rounds of every broadcast PGA Tour event, on

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

. He was fired in February 2022 after making negative on-air comments about women's sports.

Personal life

Lye plays guitar, in particular blues guitar, and has played with a member of Eric Clapton's band. Late in his career he formed Jake Trout and the Flounders, a cover band with fellow professional golfers

Payne Stewart William Payne Stewart (January 30, 1957 – October 25, 1999) was an American professional golfer who won eleven PGA Tour events, including three major championships, the last of which came just a few months before his death in an airplane acci ...

and

Peter Jacobsen Peter Erling Jacobsen (born March 4, 1954) is an American professional golfer and commentator on Golf Channel and NBC. He has played on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. He has won seven events on the PGA Tour and two events on the Champions ...

. He also made a cameo in the 1996 golf-comedy film

Happy Gilmore ''Happy Gilmore'' is a 1996 American sports comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan and produced by Robert Simonds. It stars Adam Sandler as the title character, an unsuccessful ice hockey player who discovers a newfound talent for golf. The screenp ...

that starred

Adam Sandler Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, producer and singer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1990 to 1995, before going on to star in numerous Hollywood films, those of wh ...

. Lye is diabetic and has had additional health issues. Lye has battled

malignant melanoma Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the Biological pigment, pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, i ...

. He first discovered a dime-sized mole on his left knee in 1991 and had surgery to remove it. He was cancer free for more than five years; however, in 2002, a small growth on his left thigh was discovered. He had surgery and other aggressive treatments for this recurrence and remains under a doctor's care. Influenced by his cancer diagnosis he became a born-again Christian. Lye lives in

Naples, Florida Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the historical city (i.e. in the immediate vicinity of downtown Naples) was 19,115. Naples is a principal city of the Naples-Marco Island, Flori ...

. He and his wife Lisa have two children, Lucas and Eva. Lye was inducted into the California Golf Writers Hall of Fame in February 2007.

Professional wins (2)

PGA Tour wins (1)

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (1)

Results in major championships

WD = withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lye, Mark American male golfers San Jose State Spartans men's golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour of Australasia golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Golf writers and broadcasters Golfers from California Golfers from Florida American sports announcers Sportspeople from Vallejo, California Sportspeople from Naples, Florida People with type 1 diabetes 1952 births Living people