MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 6, 2021

Marc Leishman

Quick Quotes

Q. Marc, great to see you. Your ninth trip here to the Masters. When you drive down Magnolia Lane, you must have magnificent memories flooding back to you.

MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, it's obviously a place we love coming back to every year. It's special when you do get to drive down Magnolia Lane. Yes, I've got some good memories, but I'd like to make some really good memories. Like I said, special place, but would like to improve on the finishes of the past.

Q. On Sunday last year, you shot the round's lowest score, 68. Yes, it was last year. Yes, it was November. But can you take any of that into this year?

MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, I think any good round that you have around here, you put under your belt as experience, as well as bad rounds. As long as you learn from those bad rounds, you can put those towards your future, I guess, here.

Yeah, definitely take a lot out of good scores, and hopefully, I can start on the right foot here this week and get off to a good start.

Q. You had some great moments at Augusta last year actually. On par-5s, you were 15-under for the tournament, which equaled the Augusta record. What was the secret to playing them, and how can you bring that into this year's tournament?

MARC LEISHMAN: I think it was maybe a little easier last year, just because it was soft. The 13th to the 15th, you could actually hold the green. I think I chipped in on 2, and you've just got to make the birdie putts; it's as simple as that. If you make good shots on the par-5s, you can shoot 15 under for the week. If you're a little bit off, they can eat you up as well.

So like any golf course, probably it's a little more magnified on this golf course, the bad shots are punished a little more and the good shots are rewarded because the areas on the green are so small.

Q. What have you made of your own form and your own preparations heading into the tournament?

MARC LEISHMAN: I feel like I'm trending in the right direction. I played well early in the year, and it cooled off a little bit, but I'm feeling good, ready for hopefully a big week. The course is nice and firm, just the way I like it.

But at the end of the day, you have to play good. So I started playing well towards the end of the Match Play. I'm feeling good coming in.

Q. You must be in a really nice head space when you play a practice round with someone like Cameron Smith.

MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, it's nice and relaxing. You don't want to waste any energy on practice rounds. You need to do what you -- you need to do the preparation, but you also don't want to waste any energy. You want to be fresh Sunday afternoon if you have a chance to win.

I feel like I've had a pretty quiet week so far. Preparations have been good. Hoping that I'm ready and got my game ready to go, which I think I do.

Q. You're certainly keeping busy away from the golf course. Got your Begin Again foundation, of course, and you're brewing your own beer, Leishman Lager, solving a Rubik's Cube as well, and curating your own lawn. There's actually a bit of a battle off the golf course with Cam, as well, isn't there?

MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, we've got a little bit of a battle happening. Yeah, we're both passionate about it. It's not like it's a chore to do it. We love it, and it's pretty rewarding, too, when you can get your lawn looking good, follow it up with a Leishman Lager (Laughter).

Q. Who's winning in the lawn race at the moment?

MARC LEISHMAN: Cam's got a bit different weather than I do. He's leading at the moment, but I normally come hard towards the end of the season.

MARC LEISHMAN: Thanks.

Q. Hard and fast, if it stays like that, are you ready for that and excited about that prospect again?

MARC LEISHMAN: Really excited about that. I feel like that's when I've played my best golf around here, when it's been hard and fast. I remember 2013, it was like this. I think it rewards good and punishes bad shots more when it's like this, and the more you know the course, I think the bigger advantage it is when it is like this.

If it's soft, maybe there's not a whole lot of local knowledge comes into it, but I feel like, when it's like this, there's places that you have to put a big red X in your yardage book and make sure you don't hit it there.

Q. There's plenty of similarities to 2013 actually, a small Aussie contingent but all winners. Potential for a little bit of rain, but hard and fast to start. You obviously were pretty good that year. Do you take confidence from that?

MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, when it's like this -- it was like this early in the week in 2018, I think, too. It was pretty firm early in the week and then softened up on the weekend. But the years I've played well, this is how it's been, but having said that, it's not a given I'm going to play well this week either. You've still got to do the right stuff and put the runs on the board. Everyone's starting at zero on the 1st tee and just have to play well.

Q. Can I ask your recollections of '96, 25 years ago, as a kid watching?

MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah. I mean, I remember it pretty well. Obviously, it was a disappointing day, but it's not like -- everyone looks at how many shots Greg was in front, but they forget that Nick Faldo shot I believe it was 67. That is a helluva round around here. Funny things happen around here when you get a bit of pressure put on you.

Obviously, we felt really badly for Greg that day, but having been here a few years, I can see how that happens. I don't think any lead is big enough. Yes, a lot can go wrong round here pretty quickly.

Q. Stories about this place, and when young guys get here, they seek out older guys to learn stories or what you do, what you don't do. Did you have somebody when you first got here you leaned on for that advice, and did they give you any nugget that has stayed with you every time you come here?

MARC LEISHMAN: So I came here with Geoff Ogilvy for the first time. He played here a few times. I remember he told me all the places you can't hit it. Then you try and play with guys that -- I played with members on Sunday here before. I feel like you learn a lot from them because they play it all year.

Ben Crenshaw. You know I've played -- yeah, they're probably the guys.

Q. Did anybody tell you something, like one nugget like, oh, that's a good one. Like every time I get to the 3rd hole or something like that?

MARC LEISHMAN: There's probably not one thing. I mean, maybe on the 2nd, the left pins, just if you're left there, you've got no chance. That's probably one thing. You've got a hundred yards right there that you can hit it and you're perfect. If there was one thing, I would say that would be it. Having said that, you don't want to just look at the places you can't hit it. You've still got to look at ways to make birdies.

It's, I think, learning where the slopes are and what shape you have to hit it to land on that slope to get it to certain areas of the greens is the most important part of it here. I think you can't really get taught that. You have to learn it yourself. So I think that's why you see the guys who -- Phil, Tiger, Fred Couples, Bernard Langer, every year same guys, they're always playing really well. Yeah, I would say experience is probably more important than anything you can get told.

Q. You've seen Dennis one time in the last 12 months?

MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah.

Q. Smitty hasn't seen Grant since it started. Jonesey hasn't seen Gary since it started. How much of a disadvantage is that compared to guys who can have their guy anytime they want?

MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, it can be difficult, particularly if you're not playing well. Last year I was struggling. You need some help sometimes, and when you can't get it, I guess everything gets magnified and you start thinking about it too much. Yeah, it's tough, but as, I guess, a foreigner on the PGA TOUR, we've got a few things that we've got to deal with, but having said that, it's the best tour in the world. This is where we want to be.

So with anything with living in a different country, there's challenges. But, yeah, I've not really -- I try not to think about it too much to be honest, just with the coaching part of it, yeah.