Australian Marc Leishman showed once again what a quality player he is after romping to a five-stroke victory at the BMW Championship on Sunday.
Leishman first garnered attention in 2013 when he dueled compatriot Adam Scott down the stretch at the Masters before ending in a respectable tie for fourth.
He has since made a name for himself as a man for the big stage. Leishman registered an impressive three top-10s in a four-year stretch at the Open Championship including a playoff loss to Zach Johnson in 2015.
But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the Aussie. In 2015, his wife, Audrey, was diagnosed with toxic-shock syndrome. At just five percent, her chances of survival were slim.
Fortunately for Marc and his family, Audrey pulled through. It was thus fitting that Marc ended a victory drought of five years when he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this year, nearly two years to the day since his wife’s diagnosis.
Besides the victory, Leishman had a solid regular season in which he registered four top-10 finishes.
After some indifferent form in the latter stages of the regular season, Leishman found himself in contention at the second playoff event, the Dell Technologies Championship.
Beginning the final round tied for the lead with Justin Thomas, Leishman blitzed the outward nine at TPC Boston in a six-under par 30.
As is so often the case in golf, it was a tale of two nines for the 33-year-old. A back-nine 40 scuppered Leishman’s title tilt, relegating him to solo third-place.
After his scintillating performance through the first 63 holes at TPC Boston, his start at the BMW Championship came as no surprise. Leishman registered an astonishing 10 birdies against one bogey to sign for a 62 and the first round lead.
On Friday, he showed no ill-effects after his birdie-binge by breezing around Conway Farms in an effortless 64. With a 17-under 36-hole total, Leishman was on fire as he stretched his lead to three
Though his Saturday score may have suggested otherwise, Leishman continued his assault on the Chicago layout. His three-under par 68 gave him a commanding five-shot lead over Rickie Fowler with 18 to play.
On Sunday, Leishman picked up where he left off by trading birdies with Fowler on the opening hole. On holes two and three, he was unlucky to see his birdie putts slide past the hole that could have dropped just as easily.
After Fowler birdied the second to pull within four, Leishman began to falter. Wayward drives on the fourth and five led to a nervy par save and a bogey respectively.
The Aussie showed tremendous grit to birdie the sixth. The birdie meant that to that point in the week, Leishman had responded to each of his five bogies with a birdie the very next hole.
During the course of the final round, a trio of golfers looked like challenging Leishman’s lead. Jason Day, Fowler and Justin Rose all made runs and got to within three shots of the Australian.
All three players would have hoped for a back-nine capitulation similar to the previous event from Leishman. When he bogied the 13th hole, they had a glimmer of hope.
Just as quickly as the door opened slightly, however, so it was slammed shut. Three birdies in the final four holes put paid to any talk of a meltdown.
The Aussie had been clutch down the stretch at Conway Farms and was rewarded with his third PGA Tour title and second of the year.
The win vaulted Leishman inside the all-important top-five on the FedexCup standings heading into the Tour Championship.
Should Leishman continue his superb form and triumph at the Tour Championship, he’d join illustrious company as FedexCup champion.
Oh, and be $10 million richer
Photo: Getty Images
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