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The 35-year-old Australian is a four-times
winner on the U.S. PGA Tour, most recently last month at the
CIMB Classic in Malaysia, and has notched up top-20 finishes at
all four majors, including second place after a playoff at the
2015 British Open.
On home soil, however, his success has been limited to amateur
events at the start of his career.
The Australian Masters has now disappeared from the calendar and
Leishman decided to skip the Australian Open in Sydney two weeks
ago, so the European Tour co-sanctioned event at Royal Pines is
his only chance to break the drought this year.
"I haven't managed to win one of the three big Australian events
yet and that's pretty high on my list -- it's probably a missing
part of my resume," he told reporters on Wednesday.
"Happy to be here and hoping to have a good week (but) it's a
great field and whoever wins the event is going to have to play
great golf.
"It's something that every Australian wants to do. It would mean
a lot to win it, but a lot has to go right to win a golf
tournament wherever it's played, on the Australian tour, on the
PGA Tour or on the European Tour."
Leishman had a chance of winning a title for his country in
Melbourne last week at the World Cup of Golf, but he and partner
Cameron Smith came up three strokes short of Belgian winners
Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry.
Smith is the defending champion at Royal Pines and is joined in
the field by his American predecessor Harold Varner III, who won
the title in 2016 having lost out in a playoff the previous
year.
Also teeing off on Thursday are Englishman Andrew "Beef"
Johnston and Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open champion and 2008
Australian PGA champion who has recently returned to live in
Australia after two decades in the United States. (Editing by
John O'Brien)
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