THE 153RD OPEN

July 19, 2025

Marc Leishman

Mixed Zone

Q. It feels like it's improved every day. How was it today?

MARC LEISHMAN: Felt really good today actually. Played good, hit good shots into the 1st and then three-putted, but hit two shots exactly where I wanted to hit them, and the putt was actually good.

I deserved to make 6 on 12. Hit three bad shots, so you don't mind making 6s if you deserve to make them. Obviously it's never good.

But made a lot of birdies and hit a lot of good shots. Nice to see some putts drop in. Hopefully I can do something silly tomorrow and try to sneak into that top 5 or 10.

Q. Felt like it was close to getting to that almost silly level today, that just one or two things could have turned and it could have gone almost really low?

MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, if I played the par-5s better, I could have had a really low one, but played them 1-over. None of them were playing difficult either. That was disappointing, but two of them were -- one of them was a good par. Hopefully I'll save it all for tomorrow.

Q. You might not have thought about it, but does it feel strange to not be in the majors for a couple years and now be the only Aussie left here?

MARC LEISHMAN: Not really. Yes, it's been a while, but something you can slide back into pretty easily. It's what we want to do, play majors, win majors. Yeah, I've not been in them for a while, but happy to be back.

Q. What does it look like for tomorrow? Do you actually have to go in and try to be aggressive or strike it as good as you can and hope that things get going?

MARC LEISHMAN: I'm hitting it well enough to be aggressive. Depends what the conditions do. If the wind gets up a little bit, you've got to try and give yourself makable birdie putts on every hole. If it's like it was today, you probably have to be a bit more aggressive and try and make something happen.

It's one of those things; you just have to hit good shots. If you're not hitting good shots, whether you're aggressive or conservative, you're not going to have a good score. If you are hitting good shots, you can play that way and still have a good score.

I feel like my iron play is really good at the moment, and there might be a few pins that I'll be able to go at that maybe, depending on the situation, I might otherwise not go at. Yeah, we'll see what the situation brings.

Q. Regardless of what Scheffler does, there's still plenty to play for for yourself. Is that something you think about?

MARC LEISHMAN: Definitely. Am I 4-under?

Q. Yes, four back of the top 4.

MARC LEISHMAN: Obviously there's the carrot dangling to try to get into the top 4 but also to try to get in the Open next year. Yes, you want to do something silly and try to go 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.

Probably more so looking at that. I'm nine back. Probably going to be more than ten back at the end of the day the way he's 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.

Q. How much patience will that require tomorrow just to keep inching towards the top 4 other than go out guns blazing?

MARC LEISHMAN: It will be pretty important to get off to a good start. The first five holes are pretty gettable here. 4 is tough, but 1, 2, 3, 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 1st. Hopefully I can do that and give myself at least a chance with it.

Q. When are you going to figure out 16? You've struggled all week.

MARC LEISHMAN: Didn't I birdie it one day? I birdied it the first day as well.

Q. I think par, par, birdie.

MARC LEISHMAN: It feels like a birdie if you walk out of there with a par. It's just a fun hole. I like hitting that low shot and I can land -- today I hit a low 4-iron, landed it short of the green, knew I could run it up. I enjoy playing those sorts of the shots. It's a very difficult hole. Not just difficult for me, difficult for everyone. I think that's the mindset I've got with it.

Q. The electricity around the joint when Rory makes a birdie. What's it like when Rory hits a good one?

MARC LEISHMAN: You can hear it everywhere. He might have birdied the first three. You could hear the one on 3. I was on the 17th when he -- I don't know if he birdied or eagled 12. Yeah, eagled 12. You can tell when it's him, as you could tell when it was Shane in 2019. The Northern Irish are loving seeing him in contention. It's exciting. It would be exciting for Rory too.

Q. And you were on the 1st when Parry had his hole-in-one on 13; I don't know if you noticed. You were just about to putt.

MARC LEISHMAN: I did hear that. I actually said to Oliver, the lad I was playing with, I reckon that might have been a 1. But I couldn't tell if it was a 1 on 13 or a 2 on 17.

Q. Another pint of Guinness tonight, keep it rolling?

MARC LEISHMAN: What time is it?

Q. 6:00.

MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, probably another Guinness for sure.

Q. Harvey was out there watching you today. Given how much he loves golf, after you play a major championship round, is there a post-round debrief from him where he gives you his thoughts or wants to talk about the shots you hit?

MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, yesterday he got there on the 12th, I believe. Yeah, he's very -- he's really -- what's the word?

Q. Invested?

MARC LEISHMAN: He loves it. Yeah, he loves it. Inquisitive, I guess I would say, and he really wants to learn. He'll ask me about some shots I hit today, maybe good or whether it was bad. Maybe the driver I hit off 12, might ask me why I did that. We spoke through that actually, me and Matty. 2-iron could have got in the bunker as well, but not that bunker. I said, if I'm going to take a bunker on, it's going to be with driver. I had to explain that to Harvey, which was good.

It's great having him at the house and the whole family. Good going home.