[Photo: Getty images]
A decade after his heartbreaking but inspiring playoff loss at the 2015 Open Championship at St Andrews, Marc Leishman says his winning form on LIV Golf has him believing he can contend and win the claret jug at Royal Portrush this week.
CHECK OUT OUR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE 153RD OPEN HERE
Leishman is among a nine-strong Australian contingent at Portrush including Ryan Peake, Curtis Luck, Elvis Smylie, Jason Day, Adam Scott, Cameron Smith, Min Woo Lee, and Lucas Herbert.
At the 2015 Open, Leishman was only months removed from wife Audrey suffering a near-fatal bout of sepsis and toxic shock syndrome. But he played his way into extra holes at St Andrews, only to drive his opening tee shot of the playoff into a divot and eventually lose to Zach Johnson. A victory would have read like a Hollywood movie script.
It’s now been 10 years since that loss at the Old Course while three years have passed since Leishman, now 41, last teed up at The Open. He earned his Open Championship return by finishing T-3 at the Australian Open last year. That secured one of three spots in the 153rd edition of the links major offered in Melbourne via the Australian Open’s place in the Open Qualifying Series.
Leishman, a former six-time PGA Tour winner, bagged his first individual title on LIV Golf at the brutally difficult Doral course in Miami in April. Now, he’s eyeing a long-awaited breakthrough major win.
“I’m definitely capable of doing it,” Leishman told Australian Golf Digest at Portrush about winning a major. “I’m probably playing some of the best golf in my life, and I’m in as good a spot mentally as I have been in my life. So in that respect, I feel really good. But obviously, they’re the hardest tournaments to win, so I’d like to just play well and give myself a chance.”
Failing that, Leishman has set his sights on another carrot dangling at Portrush: guaranteed starts in two majors next year. Playing on LIV Golf, direct access to the Masters and PGA Championship is not an option. But if he finishes in the top four this week, he would earn an invitation back to the Open and to Augusta National in 2026.
“I’ve got to get in them first, so it’d be nice if I could play well enough at The Open play to get into the majors next year and then give myself more chances,” he said. “If I can do that, I back myself to hopefully play well, play well under the pump when it really matters.”
Leishman’s memories of missing the cut at Portrush in 2019 are foggy but he adored the Dunluce links and its wild and dramatic dunes.
“I really liked it but I just didn’t play well, and sometimes that happens,” he said. “So I remember, I’d been on a pretty good run of Open Championships when I went to Portrush. I was T-5 at Royal Liverpool in 2014, then T-2 at St Andrews in the playoff, and T-6 at Birkdale in 2017. Maybe I went into Portrush overconfident about The Open but it’s in the past.”
Growing up in windy Warrnambool, Victoria, Leishman has always thrived in testing conditions. Links golf remains his favourite arena to show off his sublime ability to shape his irons.
“It is a heavy wind here and the fairways are generous but they play quite narrow,” he said. “I feel like in The Open, just because they’re firm and with the wind, you have to get really good shots. It’s exciting as a golfer, to be going into a big tournament feeling good and genuinely excited about, hopefully having a chance to win one of the biggest tournaments in the world.”
