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HP BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIPMay 17, 2012Marc LeishmanIRVING, TEXAS THE MODERATOR: We are joined here by Marc Leishman. Marc, you had a great round, 5‑under, finish, with two eagles. Tell us about that. MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, I hit the ball well all day, hit a lot of fairway and was getting up and down for pars, which was good, and I think I birdied the par 5, 7, first birdie of the day, followed with another on 8, bogey 9, and a couple of eagles on the back 9 was awesome. On 11 I was trying to drive it up towards that right bunker, pulled it a little bit, perfect, right in front of the green there about 10‑foot off the edge, easy chip, down grain. Like I said, it was an easy chip and held that. Another one on 16, I think about 245, hit a 2‑iron to about 8 feet, easy put, straight up, rolled that in and it was a good day. Q. What was the key to your round today? What was the best part of it? What made all that happen? MARC LEISHMAN: I drove the ball a lot better than I have been. I think I only missed two or three fairways for the day. Haven't been hitting a lot of fairways this year so far, so it's been‑‑ it's an easy game from the fairway, I'll say that! I drove it well and held the par putts that kept the round going, and I managed ‑‑ obviously two eagles helped as well. Q. Have you made some kind of adjustment to help your driving? MARC LEISHMAN: My club face was a little bit open, I found that out yesterday, and that made a little sense, squared up the face and hitting the ball a lot better. Like I said before, it's easier from the fairway, and that's really it. It's probably early‑‑ my posture has been a little hunched, working on that, really old habits creeping back in, and I'm working hard to try and get rid of old habits, which is hard to do. Today was a good reward for the work I've been doing the last three or four weeks. Q. Did you feel like this round was going to come at some point, or did this come out of blue for you? MARC LEISHMAN: I have actually felt like it's been there for about four or six weeks, it's been really close, and I feel like I've been playing all right, just not getting a whole lot out of my game. I feel like I'm doing the right things, being patient, and it's‑‑ it probably took longer than I would have liked to have a good round like this. Me and my caddie have been talking about doing the right things and it will take care of itself, and hopefully I can have another good three rounds and it will take care of itself. Q. Has it been tough to be patient? You had the break‑out the first year and won "Rookie of the Year." Has it been a struggle? MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, it's been‑‑ not a struggle, I wouldn't say. 2010 wasn't a bad year‑‑ obviously it wasn't as good as 2009, I finished top 70 on the money list, and I'm looking for the "big" win, but last year was pretty disappointing. I felt like I got off to a good start and then just about nothing for the rest of the year, really. It's the first time since I've been a pro that I've struggled for a decent amount of time, just not hitting the ball as well as I would like to, not holing putts, and this year I feel like I'm doing everything a lot better. Obviously if you can hole some putts and hit fairways, that helps. That's what I did today. Q. Can you talk about the back nine. It was a pretty good score. MARC LEISHMAN: What did I have, just the two eagles? I don't think I birdied any. Q. Just the two eagles? MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, that was all right. (Laughter.) It's nice having a real good chance for eagle, doesn't happen a whole lot. Sometimes you have a tough putt or maybe a holable bunker shot, but both of the opportunities for eagle I had I was thinking about holing, and it's nice when they go in. I just gave myself chances. The putt on 16 was‑‑ it's nice to leave yourself with an 8‑foot uphiller. Q. How close were you on the other one? MARC LEISHMAN: 30 feet, 10 foot off the front edge of the green; it was down grain. Q. Driver or‑‑ MARC LEISHMAN: Driver, yep. Q. Did I hear correctly, out by 18 you have a two‑month old? MARC LEISHMAN: Four‑month old. He was born Jan 10th. It's pretty cool having a son now; we both made Audrey really happy, and I just picked up mom and dad from the airport. They flew in on Tuesday from Australia, and it's good to have them here. Life is good at the moment, yeah. Q. Do they come over for many of your tournaments? MARC LEISHMAN: They flew in for LA and stayed for about a month; they went home for 8 or 9 weeks. Q. What are their names? MARC LEISHMAN: Paul and Paulie. THE MODERATOR: What's your son's name? MARC LEISHMAN: Harvey. I can't say it properly. (Laughter.) Q. Australians have generally played well here the last few years. Do you feel like there is a particular reason for that? Is it because you guys are good wind players? Anything that you can put your finger on? MARC LEISHMAN: Probably the wind, yeah, the wind and the grass conditions, they're not the Bermuda greens, it's the Bentgrass greens; I think Australians like that. The firm conditions and the wind as well, I think everything combined. I guess that's it. Q. You didn't get your first birdie until 7 and I don't know what happened at 9, but I know you had the bogey. How did you not let that derail you? MARC LEISHMAN: I hit a bad tee shot. I hit a 3‑wood off the tee and didn't quite‑‑ quartered it high on the face, popped it off, and it finished in the bunker. It was on a good upslope. I pulled my second shot into the left raft and hit a good chip and a good putt for par, which I thought was in but it stopped breaking at the end. It was just a bad tee shot really, that's all, so I knew there was a lot more opportunities on the back nine, two eagle opportunities, 11 and 16. Just trying to stay patient and I've actually just started working with Neil Smith as well, so we're working on a couple of things. My swing is coming along, working with Dennis, still. It's just coming together. Q. Is there a mental challenge coming off a good round? Do you just clear your head and think okay, things are going well, or does your head start working even more thinking, "I've got to keep this going?" MARC LEISHMAN: Not really. Probably different people treat it differently. I just treat it like a new day. Start at even par again and try and have as good of a score as you can. Late last year and early this year I've been thinking about score too much and thinking about, I'm on the first tee and‑‑ I'm on the first tee and already thinking about the third and the chances and where they're going to come, and really that stuff, that's what I've been trying to think on. Q. Do you think that you're due to win or are you pressing to do that? Pressing to win? Is it in the back of your mind at all, or is it just going to be one of those, if it comes it comes type things? MARC LEISHMAN: Well, I still am. I obviously still want to win, but I think I was pushing a bit too hard, thinking about it too early in the week. Making a bogey or a couple of bogeys on the front nine and thinking, "Oh, I'm done." But now I'm just trying to‑‑ I've had a couple of seconds and third, and you don't have to play perfect to win. I'm learning that. I think it takes a fair while to learn that.            I'm just trying to do what I can to give myself a chance really. I think early in this year and late last year I was trying to push too hard. Hopefully I can do the right things. Q. Obviously your family is here, but I think there are quite a few Aussie players that live in the area, are there any BBQs planned? MARC LEISHMAN: We had a game of cricket on Tuesday night with a local team. Where was it? Up just between‑‑ sort of towards McKinney, so there was a local Indian team, and Jason Day. We got beaten; they're good. That was fun. We had a couple of beers and some Indian food. No other things planned this week. Q. Do you need five guys to have‑‑ MARC LEISHMAN: There was 11 on each team, so there were a few caddies, and we had a couple of players play for us, which is fun. No injuries, which is good. Q. How long had it been since you played? MARC LEISHMAN: We had a game in Charlotte as well with a local team. Before that I hadn't played, but when I go home I will go to the nets and have a hit, like a batting cage. I will go there and have a hit with a few friends, but haven't played that game since I was 15 or 16. It's been a long time. Q. Maybe that's what helped your driving. MARC LEISHMAN: Maybe. Q. What is the best cricket player on TOUR? MARC LEISHMAN: It's hard to say. You can't ball fast, or go too hard because it's easy to do damage, and it's not good to do that obviously on Tuesday of a golf tournament. (Laughter.) We can all play, most of us are pretty athletic that are playing. THE MODERATOR: Thank you for your time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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