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THE PRESIDENTS CUP

October 7, 2015

Marc Leishman

Songdo IBD, Incheon City, Korea

Q. First talk about the match that you have tomorrow, playing with Danny and going against Jordan and Dustin?
MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, it's going to be obviously a tough match. Jordan has been playing pretty decent and Dustin he's been playing well also. It's going to be a tough match for us. Danny has been playing pretty good, practicing pretty well this week. Looking forward to it.

Q. What makes you and Danny a good pairing?
MARC LEISHMAN: Both pretty laid back. Know each other well. Australia, New Zealand, not too far away. Same trainer, a few things. We've played a little bit together. We hit it similar distances I guess, and he's great putter. So feel like we blend pretty well together.

Q. Just like kind of maybe your philosophy on playing alternate-shot, and how you handle it and how you approach it with your partner?
MARC LEISHMAN: Depends. I mean, probably whoever is teeing off on the same holes as Dustin, we'll be probably hitting into to the green first. So whether you're a little bit more conservative or depending on other matches, I don't know. But you can't really take too much into it, I don't think. Just match play or foursomes or fourball, you just have to have the best score you can.

Maybe fourball is a little different, but if you can shoot a good score, you have a good chance of winning. Yeah, I don't think you can read too much into the format. You've just got to do as well as you can and see how you go.

Q. What does this course present to you in the way of match play strategy? What are some holes or some spots that you think would be great match play arenas?
MARC LEISHMAN: Well, I think there's going to be a lot of birdies. Especially on the front nine, there's a lot of birdie opportunities. You can feed it into some pins and the greens are perfect, so I think there are going to be a lot of putts holed.

I think it's 14 on the back nine, if they move that forward a little bit, that could be an interesting one, if guys go for it or not.

But all the holes, the short par 4s, they can move them forward. There's a lot of trouble around the greens, so if you do go for it, you're going to have to hit really good shots or you're going to be in trouble.

Q. The other part of it is, last night I heard you guys had some Korean barbeque. Can you talk about that experience last night?
MARC LEISHMAN: That was an interesting experience actually. I've had quite a bit of Korean barbeque. It was really nice food. K.J. took us out to a great restaurant. Some stuff that probably wouldn't happen anywhere else in the world happened. I don't know if you want me to elaborate on that or not.

Q. You can elaborate.
MARC LEISHMAN: We can some octopus soup, and I guess they boiled the soup, threw the octopus in, which was still alive. It was a true octopus soup, wasn't it. Yeah, that was interesting. That's what's so good about coming over here. You get to experience the culture and going to the Korean barbeque where they are boiling live animals certainly isn't something you would experience in Australia or America. Probably a good thing my wife wasn't there.

Q. Just the general mood, how it's been in the team room and kind of how Nick's been with you guys, trying to face the task of turning this whole thing around?
MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, it's been really relaxed actually. Player-wise, we've all bonded really well together. Nick is treating it a little different to the last one I think, taking charge a little more, which is good.

You know, last time he was captain, I think the players had quite a bit of input. This time, I think he's taken charge, which is a good thing. He can see from the outside who is playing well, who is not playing well and work it out from there. I feel like things haven't gone the Internationals way the last few Cups, so a change is good.

Q. What do you love about being in these team events?
MARC LEISHMAN: Well, the camaraderie, really. Just having guys pulling for you most of the time -- guys don't wish bad things upon you, but they are never really wishing putts in or anything like that. But Danny tomorrow, every shot he's over, I'm hoping he's going to hole it and he'll be thinking the same of me. That's unusual for golfers. Golf is such an individual sport and that's a great thing. And being in the team room at the end of the day, going out for the dinners, everything about it is just fun, having a bit more company than usual.

Q. From your perspective, playing on the last one as a captain's pick and playing on this one earning your way on through points and not being a rookie now, what's the difference from your perspective, is there is one?
MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, probably a little bit. Obviously earning my way on to the team -- not that I didn't earn it last time but I needed a bit of help from Nick obviously to get a pick. So this one, I feel like I belong a bit more. After the experience of last time, I know what to expect tomorrow on the first tee and throughout the whole week really. I've probably paced myself a little bit more this year than I did two years ago. I know it's such a big week and there's a lot of golf and there's a lot of pressure. It's fun playing golf like that, and definitely feel like I belong. Excited to get out there and get amongst it tomorrow.

Q. Danny being a bit younger than you and pairing with him, when do you remember first hearing his name? Obviously Down Under he was playing as an amateur. Do you recall when he first came on to the scene?
MARC LEISHMAN: Well, he burst on to the scene when he -- I'm not sure if he won the U.S. Amateur before he won the Johnnie Walker or it was the other way around. But I know he won a European Tour event in Perth. That was a pretty big deal. Hit some awesome shots down the stretch. Obviously everyone knew who he was then, to win a European Tour event as an amateur, I think; I think he was an amateur. So that was pretty good.

And then obviously the U.S. Amateur, he's done a lot of stuff. Been playing great this year. Especially the second half of the year, so happy to have him as my partner and hopefully he can continue his good form and I can hit them nice and close and give him a lot of birdie opportunities.

Q. Have you been paired together a lot in PGA TOUR events?
MARC LEISHMAN: We have a few times, but obviously this is different being a team event. It's good. I was happy when Nick said I was going to be paired with him. That was good.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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