[PHOTO: R&A]
Marc Leishman clawed his way up the leaderboard and has targeted a return to the Open Championship as his final-round goal with world No.1 Scottie Scheffler on a seemingly inevitable march towards victory at Royal Portrush.
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Scheffler (67) finished 14-under-par, four shots ahead of China’s Li Haotong at 10-under. Former US Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick was nine-under while Rory McIlroy, Chris Gotterup, Harris English and Tyrrell Hatton were eight-under. Leishman was four-under and 10 shots behind Scheffler, who is chasing a second major win this year following his PGA Championship triumph.
With a top-four result at the 153rd Open, Leishman would not only snare an automatic spot in next year’s links major but also an invitation to the 2026 Masters after a three-year absence from Augusta National.
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The 41-year-old did himself a huge favour on day three at Portrush with a second consecutive round of three-under-par 68 improving his total to four-under-par. He bogeyed the first, but grabbed two front-nine birdies before another three on the back nine were marred only by a bogey at the par-5 12th.
“It felt really good today; made a lot of birdies, hit a lot of good shots and saw a few putts drop,” Leishman said after his round. “Hopefully I can do something silly [good] tomorrow and get in that top-10 or top [four].”
Leishman plays on LIV Golf and won its Doral event in Miami in April. LIV does not receive Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points which the organisers of the four major championships use as their main criteria for direct entry or invitation. LIV Golf resubmitted its application last week to be recognised by the OWGR, after being knocked back in 2023. In the meantime, the R&A and the USGA this year awarded one spot to LIV from the league’s points standings into The Open and the US Open, respectively.
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Leishman advanced through 36-hole qualifying for last month’s US Open, his first major start in three years, while his Portrush start came via a top-three result at the Australian Open, part of the Open Qualifying Series.
The Masters and the PGA Championship are invitation-based majors and do not formally recognise LIV victories.
In other words, with Scheffler on a collision course with the claret jug, there is still plenty to play for with Leishman.
“Obviously there’s the carrot dangling to try to get into the top four but also [top 10] to try to get in The Open next year. Yes, you [dream of going] crazy low, but you also want to make sure you try to get back in last year and give yourself a chance to get into the other majors. I’m probably more so looking at that.
“I’m probably going to be more than 10 shots back at the end of the day the way [Scheffler] is playing. That will be too many, unless I do something really, really silly. He’s probably going to get to 20-under. I’m not going to shoot 56.”
Leishman, who was T-2 at The Open at St Andrews in 2015 after losing in a playoff to Zach Johnson, said making several birdies in the first three holes, with a short par 4 to start, the par-5 second and par-3 third and the drivable par-4 fifth, was imperative.
“It will be pretty important to get off to a good start,” he said. “The first five holes are pretty gettable here. Four is tough, but one, two, three, depending on where the pin is, and 5 are all pretty gettable. I think it would be important to get off to a good start, which I didn’t do today. Bogeyed the first. Hopefully I can do that and give myself at least a chance with it.”
