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TURNING STONE RESORT CHAMPIONSHIP

September 29, 2009

Marc Leishman

VERONA, NEW YORK

MARK WILLIAMS: Welcome Marc Leishman to the interview room at the Turning Stone Resort Championship. Marc, welcome. You've had a great rookie season so far and you've got a few tournaments left this year and in the running, of course, for Rookie of the Year. You were the only rookie to make it all the way through to the Tour Championship last week at East Lake. Just talk about your experiences so far this year and your performance during the Playoffs has been pretty exceptional. And just tell us a little bit about what you're looking forward to this week at Turning Stone.
MARC LEISHMAN: It's been great to obviously get a spot in the Playoffs.
To get to BMW was probably a pretty good thing on Tour, and then to get to the TOUR Championship was kind of made a fairly good year into a really good year.
Yeah. It's nice to play well when it matters so much, in the Playoffs. A little bit of extra pressure, but I was really lucky in a way that I had the option of playing well.
So yeah, I mean it was fun. Had a lot of fun. Didn't play so well last week.
MARK WILLIAMS: Just before we open it up for questions, last week you started with an even par round and you finished with an unfortunate 78. Was tiredness a factor in there or was it something with the golf course on the last day that was a struggle for you?
MARC LEISHMAN: Probably fatigue a little bit. The previous weeks were pretty busy for me, playing. I've been on top of the leaderboard a couple weeks in a row. All the interviews and stuff I was doing.
It was a week off, but it wasn't really a week off. I was on the phone to Australia during the week doing interviews.
But that was awesome. I really enjoyed it, great experience. Last day probably didn't play great. Mixture of fatigue and not putting great. But yeah, it's a combination of everything really. Can't play well every day I guess.
But this week is going to be great. I'm looking forward to actually playing in bad weather. It's not very often you get -- it's going to be good to play in a bit of wind and hopefully not rain, but definitely wind. It's going to be something I'm looking forward to.
I grew up in weather like this, so yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
MARK WILLIAMS: Well, and you've had some good performances in the wind, too. I know you won the WNB in Midland, which was played last week on the Nationwide Tour. You won that last year by 11 shots and set a record, and it was very windy there, and you played well in Texas both tournaments this year. So maybe it's a good omen for you.
MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah. Wind -- it's not very often in Australia you play when it's not windy. So it's something I enjoy doing, tough conditions.
I don't know whether it makes me concentrate more or what, but yeah, kind of like to get out there.
MARK WILLIAMS: Okay. Questions.

Q. Marc, welcome to the winners series here. What as a rookie has surprised you? What's been the most difficult part of being on Tour and what's been the easiest part that maybe you didn't expect to be easy?
MARC LEISHMAN: I think the most difficult part was probably Tour breaking, first of all, playing with these guys that you've grown up with on TV your whole life, to feel comfortable playing with them is pretty tough. It takes a bit of getting used to.
I wasn't feeling 100% comfortable, still not really 100% comfortable, but wasn't feeling somewhat comfortable till maybe mid year and now I'm starting to feel quite comfortable and feel like I belong out here.
That's probably one of the things. Another thing is being a rookie you're playing golf courses you've never seen before, so you know, you get -- obviously pin positions in certain places, and you usually if you short side yourself on the green, that's not great, but on some holes it's all right.
And you learn little things like that, where to hit it, where not to hit it. But new golf courses. I guess the main thing really, I mean you play growing up, your golf club or back in teens or college or wherever, you're playing around people you know.
First year out you don't know anyone, there was just a handful of people at the start of the year that I knew. And you know, it just takes a bit of time to get to know people. You know, that's a factor.
I think the main thing is feeling comfortable, feeling comfortable straightaway.

Q. Just to follow up on that because I think all golfers of all levels run through the comfort level. They try to move on up, whether it's an amateur playing in an event for his first time or a college player playing on -- why is it? Where is the psyche in it that says as a golfer I'm uncomfortable, where I don't think you see a basketball player say that. I think there's more of a level of you can release that, be more cocky, be more athletic.
MARC LEISHMAN: Well, comparing to basketball, it's more of an instinct sport. You don't have that much time to think. Someone throws the ball to you, you catch it and you find someone to pass it to or have a shot.
With golf there's a lot of time to think about it. You hit a shot, you're walking down the fairway, looking over at the leaderboard, you see Tiger, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els. It's just a lot of time to think, and if you don't manage it well, it can affect you.
It's like in anything really. If you're at a job and you're not comfortable in your surroundings or -- I guess that's the best way to describe it. You're not going to perform as your best, as well as you can.
It's the same with golf. If you're not comfortable, you're not going to perform how you know you can or you want to. It just takes a while. I'm not sure why that is. It just -- I mean it's different for some people. They can come straight out on TOUR and go bang, bang, bang and win, you know.
So yeah, I wish I could have adjusted a little bit quicker, but to do it in my first year I'm pretty happy with it, and hopefully that will take me through and is what has helped me over the last few months.

Q. What have you done well over the last few months or so, you know, to get yourself in the position to win the Rookie of the Year award?
MARC LEISHMAN: I've been driving it a bit straighter. Sometimes I tend to maybe crooked off the tees. That's kind of a combination of everything. If you hit it close to the hole with your approach shot, you have more birdie opportunities.
But I've been close all year. I've been saying to Mattie, my caddie and my coach, been just really close to playing well. It's just a matter of time, I guess. And you know, you hope that it's going to happen this year or really soon, next week. But you know, you never know.
But it's -- yeah, not too much has changed. I've just been performing better in the tournaments. I've been hitting it well on the range all year. I've just been looking to get three rounds in instead of two.

Q. You've had such a good rookie year. Is it now all about just getting that win, sort of like what Dustin Johnson did last year, just getting over the hump and then maybe shooting forward next year? Is that why you're playing these events right now?
MARC LEISHMAN: Definitely. I mean all year you go to tournaments to win, but having played well the last few weeks and gotten in position quite a few times in probably the last six or eight events, I suppose, yeah, I feel like I'm ready to take that next step, and hopefully get a win soon.
It might not be this week. Who knows when that's going to be. I just gotta -- I got the TOUR Championship. I gotta play the majors next year. Now I just need to try and get that win under the belt, and hopefully I can do it here. That would be great.

Q. Have you been out in the course? Have you practiced a couple times already or not yet? And do you think your long driving obviously with the wet weather should be a big advantage for you, don't you think?
MARC LEISHMAN: Hopefully. Yeah. I haven't actually seen the course yet. I went home for a day to try and get a bit of rest, and I'll go over it this afternoon and go out and walk around again tomorrow, try and work out where to hit it and where not to hit it. I'm not sure if I'll play or not. I'll definitely play nine holes, but just walk around. I think that's going to do me better than playing in this weather.
When the wind shifts or when it's windy, it does you more harm than good sometimes, but to be out there. Yeah, I'll just go out and have a look around and have a bit of a partnership and there we go.

Q. Have you -- do you have a mentor this year on Tour? I know when Tiger first came out, Mark O'Meara really helped him through a lot of those rookie struggles. Any of the Aussies you've hung onto?
MARC LEISHMAN: John Senden has been really good. Nathan Green. And probably Aaron Baddeley is probably the three that have, you know, put their hand up and said if you ever need to ask me any questions or whatever, you know, just come see me. I've had quite a few practice rounds with Green and John Senden. They're probably the three main guys.
I've spent quite a bit of time with those three guys. So just having good mates like that around me is good to just relax, I suppose. Have dinner with or go out to the movies, to try and make it feel normal rather than doing everything by yourself.

Q. Marc, this tournament has always been popular with Australian players. Is it the weather or why is it that this tournament is so popular with Australians?
MARC LEISHMAN: I've been playing well. I don't know. Maybe it's the course. I haven't been out on the course yet, so I'm not so sure, but it's known to be a great tournament. They have a casino here.
I'm not so sure. Hopefully we can make it an even better tournament by one of us winning, you know. But yeah, I'm not too sure. It's my first year out here, so yeah, who knows?

Q. Just curious, you were just talking a moment ago about like trying to feel more comfortable on Tour. You're still kind of getting your feet wet. You're doing a great job, but I was just curious, as a former caddie, what sort of things does your caddie help you do around the course to sort of keep you even keel? Or you know, I know just from personal experience, I mean I haven't really caddied for too many pros, but they all sort of like it a different way. I didn't know if you had any certain things your caddie does that really helps you out.
MARC LEISHMAN: Mattie's a great friend of mine. He's been caddying for me for about two years. I guess we just play around with each other, just normal stuff that you do with good friends.
You know, obviously he'll help me read a green if I need it or give an opinion on what club I want to hit, but I need to himself, and we've grown up together, so he knows when to talk and when not to talk. He knows the important things. If I'm annoyed or I'm playing bad, that's when he's needed, he needs to settle me down or relax me. Or if I'm playing really well, he doesn't really need to say much because I'm reading the greens well, not really having any problems hitting. So just knowing when to talk, when not to talk. Obviously the most important thing is you need someone that can get you to relax while you're out there.
MARK WILLIAMS: Any further questions? Marc, I appreciate you coming in. Thanks, and all the best this week.
MARC LEISHMAN: All right.

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