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BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

September 13, 2009

Marc Leishman

LEMONT, ILLINOIS

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Marc Leishman, thanks for joining us here after your finish, tied for 2nd here at the BMW Championship, qualified for the TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. I think you're 16th right now heading into the TOUR Championship. I'm sure it's been a dream couple of weeks, especially today. Maybe some comments on how you played well and finished tied for 2nd. Really it was a tournament within a tournament with Tiger winning by so many. Maybe some opening comments.
MARC LEISHMAN: It was, yeah. At the start of the day, actually I got a text message at about 7:30 in the morning saying that we had the groups change and I was now with Tiger, so it actually worked out pretty well and didn't have to sleep on that.
And then walking down the first I sort of said to Matty, my caddie, "This is what we play golf for, in the last group on Sunday playing with Tiger; this is just unbelievable." It was great. I said to Matty -- it was a perfect 3-wood shot, and I said to Matty, "I think I want to hit driver because it has a bigger club face." I was pretty nervous. Just glad to get that tee shot away and get a few pars to start with. But holed some good par putts early to keep the momentum going.
I didn't make birdie until 9, I think, so that was good to finally get a birdie on the board. Then played fairly solid for the rest of the day. Didn't hole too many birdie putts but was holing the par putts. It was an awesome day for me, and to know I'm in the TOUR Championship now and The Masters, you know, it's pretty hard to wipe the smile off my face.

Q. Just curious, after the last two, three weeks of pressure, how good is a week off finally going to feel?
MARC LEISHMAN: Oh, unbelievable. Yeah, it's been -- especially the last two weeks has been pretty full on for me, having really been up there for a while as far as tournaments go. The last two weeks to play how I've played, at the moment I feel fine, but it's taken a fair bit out of me, I'm guessing. Probably tomorrow I'll wake up and be pretty tired.
But yeah, I'll do a lot of nothing next week, I think, play a bit of tennis. I've got a ping-pong table in my house, so I'll play a bit of that and just take it easy, I guess.

Q. Joel, what does this get him in besides The Masters?
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: The first three majors.

Q. Your thoughts on that?
MARC LEISHMAN: Like I say, it's hard to wipe the smile off my face at the minute. The Masters has always been a dream to play that. We used to set the alarm at 4:30 in the morning to get up and watch it when I was back at home as a kid -- well, not really as a kid. If I'm home, I still do it now. To be able to go there and -- to just go there would be great. But to play in the Masters is going to be amazing.
And then, you know, the U.S. Open is the U.S. Open. All the events are going to be just unbelievable. Hopefully I can play in those bigger events how I've played the last two weeks.

Q. And it's a great year for venues; the U.S. Open is at Pebble Beach and the British Open is at St. Andrews.
MARC LEISHMAN: Perfect. Yeah, even better. I've actually played both those courses, so yeah, hopefully will be a good year.

Q. A follow-up question, Tiger wins by eight, just an amazing performance. Your thoughts on that, please?
MARC LEISHMAN: Amazing. He was always going to be hard to run down. Just when you think you're going to -- you know, it was going to be really hard. Just when you think you're going to pick up a shot or two on him, he -- like he holed that putt from off the edge on 7. I had that birdie putt and a chance to get one closer. And then that shot he hit on 9 from behind that tree; I had the eagle putt. I thought, I might be able to get one or two up on him here, maybe put a little bit of pressure on him maybe. Not that it would have meant anything. But just he's so good at that.
Like yesterday when I started making a few birdies, and there's Tiger, bang, bang, bang, bang, just to 13 or whatever he got to. He's so good at that.
Just to play with him as awesome. He's a great bloke to play with, really friendly and up for a chat. For my first time playing in a group with Tiger, I was really happy with how it went. And to go bogey-free, as well, was even better.

Q. That was mostly what I was going to ask about, but when you were 13 I'm going to guess, he won The Masters in '97. You would have been 13?
MARC LEISHMAN: He did, yep.

Q. Did you watch any of that, and was that -- did that mean anything to you in terms of wanting to be a golfer? And talk about maybe the arc from there until now; now you're playing with him.
MARC LEISHMAN: '97, that was the year I think -- The Masters was in April. The club championships at Warrnambool was in October. I actually won the club championships as a 13 year old. I guess he had a bit to do with that, just to know that he was only 21 and he's playing against guys who are so much more experienced, and he goes out and does that. It's like, well, if he can do that, I'm only 13, why can't I go out and beat all these blokes. So I guess he had a little bit to do with that. Just seeing the way he goes about things and just how when he gets ahead, he keeps going. A lot of guys would start playing really conservative. He just keeps going, puts it -- no matter what anyone had of shot today, they wouldn't have caught him. That's how good he is.

Q. Just as a follow-up to that, did you see 19-, 20-under? People were saying maybe 10, 11, 12 was the winning score here, and for the rest of the field that would have been the winning score. Did you see something that low?
MARC LEISHMAN: I mean, in the practice rounds I would have said no, no way, with how long it was playing. But I guess if everything goes right, maybe. But it's very rare that everything goes right. I mean, that's hard to do.
When you're with Tiger in the field, you never say never. But it was unlikely I would have thought. Yeah, I would have been thinking, yeah, closer to 10. If you had have said to me you'll have 11-under before I hit a ball this week, I would have just grabbed it off you and ran. I would have been out of there before you could change your mind.

Q. Just to follow up there again, getting back to 9, I know it was still a seven-stroke lead with Tiger in front of you, but it potentially could have been like a three-stroke swing there. He's staring bogey in the face there. Did you see that shot he hit, that approach shot, and what did you think of that approach shot from behind the tree?
MARC LEISHMAN: Well, when I saw where his ball finished, and then I hit that good shot in there, and I was sort of thinking, hang on, this could get back to 4. And then when he hit that shot, I actually just started laughing. I looked at Matty, and just -- it was such a good shot. At the time when -- he didn't really need it, but he needed it to keep a big lead. Yeah, it w.
As just -- I don't know, I mean, as much as we're playing against him, it was really good to go around with him today and watch him. As much as I would have loved to have beaten him, it was great to be inside the ropes with him watching. You can learn a lot from that.

Q. How would you describe him as a winner? Is he a gracious winner? You called him friendly, but is he humble at all? It's hard to be humble when you're -- but is he?
MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah. Walking up the last he came over and he said, "Congratulations." He was really happy for me for getting in the TOUR Championship. You know, he said a few times that -- I'm obviously saying to him, well done for winning. But for him to say that to me was I thought really good, and it shows what a great bloke he is.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Marc Leishman, thank you very much. Good luck in Atlanta.

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