World No.6 Adam Scott has selected Marc Leishman, winner of six events worldwide, to be his partner for the upcoming World Cup of Golf at Kingston Heath Golf Club from November 23-27.
Scott was left to make the tough decision on his partner following Friday’s withdrawal of world No.1 Jason Day to a back injury.
Leishman, who was paired with Scott when he won his green jacket at The Masters in 2013, will be making his first World Cup of Golf appearance. Winner of the 2012 Travelers Championship on the PGA TOUR, Leishman has five other international victories, including his most recent at the 2015 Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa on the European Tour last December.
Leishman entered the final round with a one-stroke lead over Henrik Stenson and shot 67 to win by six, becoming the second Australian (Robert Allenby in 2009) to win the title. He was voted Rookie of the Year in 2009 on the PGA TOUR after three top-10 finishes, including a runner-up finish to Tiger Woods at the BMW Championship.
The pair have form together. Scott and Leishman were teammates on the International Team in The Presidents Cup in 2013 and in 2015. The two were paired together in 2015 during the Saturday foursomes where they defeated Bubba Watson and J.B. Holmes 1-up. Leishman also defeated Jordan Spieth that year in singles play.
“I’m extremely excited about playing in the World Cup of Golf with Adam. I can’t wait to represent my country back home in Australia,” Leishman said. “Also, my best to Jason for a quick recovery.”
“It’s (Kingston Heath) probably in my top three (courses in the world), to be honest. Along with Augusta National Golf Club and St Andrews. Kingston Heath is not long, it’s a very fun golf course and you can shoot really low there. You’ll have a lot of wedges in your hand – you have to be really precise,” Leishman added in an interview earlier this year.
A native Victorian hailing from Warrnambool, Leishman enjoyed a very successful amateur career, winning many junior tournaments in Victoria and playing on the pennant team for Commonwealth Golf Club along with Jarrod Lyle.
Leishman’s selection to team with Adam Scott came after Jason Day announced last week that he was forced to withdraw due to a back injury.
The 2016 World Cup of Golf will return to a 72-hole, stroke play, two-man team event format. The first and third days of competition will be the foursomes (alternate shot) format and the second and final days are fourball (best ball) play.
The World Cup of Golf field now includes:
- Two major championship winners from 2016 in JimmyWalker (US PGA Championship) and Danny Willett (The Masters)
- 27 Olympians
- 18 past participants of either The Ryder Cup or The Presidents Cup
- 6 players from the 2016 Ryder Cup in Rickie Fowler, Jimmy Walker, Danny Willet, Lee Westwood, Cabrera Bella and Thomas Pieters
- 3 players in the top 10 and 17 of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking
- 3 past World Cup of Golf champions – Adam Scott, Francesco Molinari and Bradley Dredge
World Cup of Golf 2016 Field
Player Country Partner
Adam Scott AUS Marc Leishman
Rickie Fowler USA Jimmy Walker
Danny Willett ENG Lee Westwood
Hideki Matsuyama JPN Ryo Ishikawa
Russell Knox SCO Duncan Stewart
Rafa Cabrera Bello ESP Jon Rahm
Shane Lowry IRL Graeme McDowell
Byeong Hun An KOR K.T. Kim
Thongchai Jaidee THA Kiradech Aphibarnrat
Soren Kjeldsen DEN Thorbjorn Olesen
Danny Lee NZL Ryan Fox
Alex Noren SWE David Lingmerth
Francesco Molinari ITA Matteo Manassero
Bernd Wiesberger AUT Martin Wiegele
Thomas Pieters BEL Nicolas Colsaerts
Joost Luiten NED Darius van Driel
Jaco Van Zyl RSA George Coetzee
Jamie Donaldson WAL Bradley Dredge
Jhonattan Vegas VEN Julio Vegas
Victor Dubuisson FRA Romain Langasque
Alex Cejka GER Stephan Jaeger
Ricardo Gouveia POR Jose-Filipe Lima
David Hearn CAN Graham DeLaet
Ashun Wu CHN Haotong Li
Miguel Tabuena PHI Angelo Que
Cheng Tsung Pan TPE Chan Shih-chang
SSP Chawrasia IND S Chikarangappa
Danny Chia MAS Nicholas Fung
