He lauded Lyle, who died on Wednesday night after a third cancer bout.

“You just expect he’s going to keep beating it, you never think it’s going to take him, then all of a sudden at 36 he’s gone,” Fraser, 40, said.

“Even with how sick he was and in palliative care you expected him to still beat it, so for today to come you’re not prepared for it, even though you know it’s imminent.”

Fraser befriended Shepparton-raised Lyle when they were part of Victorian golf teams at different levels.

“He’s such a lovable person and no-one deserves this, but especially him,” Fraser said.

“To put up a fight for that long and to do it with a smile on his face was just amazing.”

Corowa-educated caddy Shannon Wallis was on Lyle’s bag in 2012, the year the father-of-two had his best result on the US PGA tour, a fourth in Los Angeles.

In 2014, Lyle played Albury’s Commercial Golf Resort pro-am while on the comeback from leukaemia.

"I love coming to courses like this and helping the pro-ams when I can and I'm enjoying my golf at the moment," he told The Border Mail.

"We came up to Shepparton to catch up with some people so it's kind of a no-brainer to just drive up the road and have a game of golf.

"It's also about putting everything we have been working on into practice and at the moment that is pretty much just about playing golf, the more I can get out and play the better my game gets.

“It doesn't matter where you are in the world, Albury or the US, it is the same concept -- you have to get in the hole for the least amount of shots as possible."

Albury’s club professional of 14 years John van der Veen said that sponsors and members had thoroughly enjoyed Lyle’s company during the pro-am.

“He struck me as a real gentleman, very easygoing, easy to talk to and happy to have a chat with everybody that was here,” van der Veen said.