‘I Knew That Could Have Been One Of The Negatives’ - Marc Leishman On Missing Majors After Joining LIV Golf

LIV Golfer Marc Leishman is making the most of a rare opportunity to impress in a Major during this week’s US Open.

The Australian headed back to the clubhouse after the third round at Oakmont on four over for the tournament, still firmly in contention for the title in what is proving to be a brutally difficult test for the players.

It’s Leishman’s first Major appearance since the 2022 Open, and one of the main reasons for that is the lack of opportunities to acquire world ranking points since joining LIV Golf.

Following his two under third round of 68, Leishman, who reached the tournament via Final Qualifying, was asked if he ever wondered if he’d get back to a Major.

He responded: “Well, you never know anything. Life is pretty uncertain at times. Obviously I want to be here. These are the biggest tests in golf. I knew that was going to be a chance when I signed with LIV. I knew that could have been one of the negatives.”

Despite that, Leishman insisted he had no regrets about joining the League. “The positives so much outweighed the negatives for me,” he said. “You've just got to play good in the qualifiers and hopefully make the most of it.

“If I have a good day tomorrow, I can hopefully finish top 4 and get into all of them next year. So yeah, you wonder, of course, if you're going to get into them again, but there is certainly no regret because, like I said, my life is as good as it's ever been right now. I'm as happy as I've ever been.”

He even took the positives out of failing to reach the two Majors that preceded the US Open, adding: “Of course I would rather be playing the Majors, but I really enjoyed just sitting down with my kids and mates watching the Masters and the PGA. I'm a lot happier if people were to be sitting down watching me, but it was a pretty good two weeks for me.”

Leishman has good reason to be satisfied with his lot during a season where he claimed his first LIV Golf victory. He explained that the less cluttered LIV Golf schedule is one of the reasons for his excellent form, including at this week's tournament.

“I've been playing probably some of my best golf of my career this year,” he said. “I think the schedule sort of lends itself to be able to work on your game between tournaments, and I was able to really prepare for this tournament.”

One of the criticisms regularly leveled at LIV Golf is the perceived lack of intensity, which is put down to several factors, including smaller fields. The 54-player field size is something fellow LIV Golfer Jon Rahm admitted is a caveat that needs applying to his record of successive top 10 finishes, but Leishman thinks the quality of the players he’s up against has helped improve his game.

He explained: “We play against really, really strong fields every single week on LIV, and I think doing that has made me work harder not only on my golf game but my body and my head, and that lends itself to more family life, too. Like I said, life is in a good spot at the moment for me. I'm very happy and happy to be contending at a US Open. Hopefully I can be not too far back tomorrow and see how we go.”