Sandy Lyle confirms tour retirement

Sandy Lyle has announced that he is done with playing on the PGA Tour Champions, effectively confirming his retirement from tour golf.  

The two-time major champion finished dead last in The Galleri Classic at Mission Hills Country Club in California at the weekend and promptly told reporters it had been his final appearance on the over-50s’ circuit. 

• Player against tour return for LIV rebels

• WATCH: Rory McIlroy hits “shot of the year”

Lyle, who turned 65 last month, said: “This is the last one. I’ve travelled the world for 50-odd years now and I know the Champions Tour is a travelling circus like all the other tours, or the tennis tour, or the PGA Tour, and you get to know the guys you play with and compete with, and yeah, you’ll miss them to a certain amount, but you’ll still see a lot of them on television. 

“Television’s exposed golf so much in the last 25 years, it’s incredible. I can sit in my house in Scotland and watch in detail who’s gone where, and then the majors, there’s even more information coming through, so it makes it exciting.” 

Lyle announced last year that this year’s Masters Tournament would be his final competitive appearance in the opening major of the season. 

Joining the dots, therefore, it would seem that the winner of the Green Jacket in 1988 intends to bow out from the game at the opening men’s major of the season in a fortnight’s time. 

• Major champ splits with long-time caddie

Lyle, who made his 100th major championship appearance at Augusta last year, has a lifetime exemption to play in The Masters but, speaking after his second round in 2022, he admitted the curtain was falling on his association with the tournament. 

“I think next year might be the end of Lyle attack on the golf course,” he said. “My older son is coming out with a few of his buddies and I think my younger son is probably coming out, too. It’ll be the full family here so I think it’ll be the end of the day.” 

The Hall of Famer is hanging it up …

One last round for Sandy Lyle @GalleriClassic 👏 pic.twitter.com/aMoEDYO9t3

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) March 26, 2023

Lyle made the first of his 41 Masters appearances in 1980 and, in 1988, became the first golfer from the UK to win the Green Jacket. 

That was the only time he has finished inside the top-10 at Augusta, his next best finish being a tie for 11th in 1986. 

• Star trio confirmed for Genesis Scottish Open

A winner of The Open in 1985, Lyle played in the game’s oldest major for the final time at Carnoustie in 2018. Unlike The Masters, The Open has an upper age limit of 60 on appearances by players playing on past champion status. 

Six times a winner on the PGA Tour, Lyle won 18 times on the European Tour. His most recent victory on a major professional circuit was the 2011 ISPS Handa Senior World Championship on the European Senior Tour. 

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor