Fourteen years later, Lyles, after a redshirt season at N.C. State University last year, will be playing golf this season for a Wolfpack team with great potential, the Roanoke Rapids High School graduate said at Chockoyette Country Club where he can be found practicing daily.

Lyles was at the U.S. Open with his family when he saw Stewart earn a dramatic victory and he knew what he wanted to do. “I said I wanted to wanted to play.”

His mother and stepfather bought him clubs and the youngster started out teaching himself. Through the years, however, he said, “I've been lucky enough to have a few great coaches, Burt Williams and Chase Duncan.”

Williams is currently the head golf pro at Cutter Creek while Duncan is a noted golf instructor in the Raleigh area.

Through tutelage and determination, Lyles has finished in the top 10 in numerous junior golf tournaments and won the Roy Jones-Clarence Rose Junior Classic in 2008, shooting a 70-69. His best game, he said, was last summer with a 61, shooting a 33-28.

His performance at Roanoke Rapids High School, where he graduated when he was 17, saw him win all but two matches, become a four-time conference player of the year and four-time all conference team MVP.

Dedication is the key, he said. “I'm out here every single day unless it's Christmas. People joke I have a bed in the back.”

Diagnosed with diabetes when he was nine, Lyles takes care of himself for the disease and his golf game. “I go to the gym and work on my core and golf specific muscles. Golf is not a game where you want to be big.”

While playing at North Carolina Wesleyan before getting the golf scholarship to State, he took shots and pricked himself four times a day. He now wears a diabetic omnipod that delivers insulin on an hourly basis.

He doesn't let diabetes hinder his game. “I think it's a good thing. It got me to know I had to be on a routine.”

Knowing he will be playing this year — college golf has a fall and spring season — he understands the legacy of Wolfpack golf and is not nervous about following in the footsteps of players like Tim Clark and Carl Pettersson. “It would be harder if I wasn't dedicated.”

Susan Smith, manager of the country club, attests to Lyles' dedication. “If I had a penny for every range ball he hit I wouldn't have to do another thing the rest of my life.”

The son of Marianne Elliott and the late Archie Lyles — his stepfather is J.K. Elliott — Lyles said his golf role models are Stewart and Tiger Woods.

Stewart, he said earlier in the interview, was class. “I liked the way he was dressed, the knickers and the newsboy hat.”

Woods, he said, “He's dedicated off the roof. Everything he got he worked hard for and sacrificed.”

Lyles said he didn't agree with the indiscretions that plagued Woods. “He made a mistake and had to deal with it.”

Lyles expects State to be a contender this year with Georgia Tech and Florida State being the biggest impediments.

Lyles is eyeing a career on the professional tour and knows there is more work to come. He is prepared to move through the lesser tours for a shot at the PGA. “I hit the ball really well. I don't have any weaknesses except putting. If I'm going to make it to the tour that's going to have to be the strength.”

As Lyles practices his iron shots a group of younger boys are practicing their drives in preparation for Roanoke Rapids High School golf.

One of them, Jackson Gowen, walks past and calls Lyles Tiger.

Asked what he could learn from Lyles, Gowen said, “He's out here every day working at it. He has a work ethic and sticks with it.”