Starting the final round at Waialae Country Club in a tie for ninth, Leishman was forced to scramble on a number of occasions on the outward nine, wayward tee shots putting him into awkward positions that twice necessitated punching out sideways to the sanctuary of the fairway.

An exquisite flop shot to tap-in range from the right of the ninth green gave Leishman momentum to take into the final nine and he capitalised in impressive fashion.

A chip-in at 12, a birdie at 13 and a birdie at 16 put Leishman within reach of the leaders and after a superb 3-iron into the par-5 final hole he had an opportunity to leap to the top of the leaderboard.

Unfortunately for the 37-year-old his eagle putt from 15 feet came up some three feet short of the target, ultimately finishing two shots back of Kevin Na’s winning total of 21-under par in a tie for fourth.

“The putt, I would like that over again,” Leishman conceded after recording his best finish since he was runner-up at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last March.

“I’ve seen guys leave that short before on TV. Told myself, don’t leave it short. It’s a lot slower than I thought it was. Yeah, that caught me. Pretty disappointed with that.”

Despite that disappointment it was a return to the type of play and competitive atmosphere that Leishman has struggled to capture since the tour’s return from the COVID-19 suspension last June.

With his Farmers Insurance Open title defence at Torrey Pines just a fortnight away, the five-time PGA TOUR champion will head home to Virginia Beach for a week feeling vastly more content in the state of his game.

“I’ve been playing poorly the last six or eight months and when you’re not playing great and nowhere near the lead, it’s hard to pull that energy from anywhere,” Leishman said. “It was nice to have that.

“I’ll take a lot of good stuff away from this. Hit the ball really well and just nice to get back in the hunt again.

”Six-under for the last 10, so that was good to do that. That fight back gives me a lot of confidence going into San Diego in a couple weeks.”

In his first start since the RSM Classic in November Matt Jones gave an indicator that he may be in for a positive year as he rose into a tie for 11th on the back of rounds of 63-64 over the weekend while Cameron Davis also made a move on Sunday, his 4-under 66 lifting him to 31st position.

Defending champion Cameron Smith started his defence in strong fashion but a final round of 1-over 71 saw him fall 23 spots to be tied for 62nd.

PGA TOUR
Sony Open
Waialae Country Club, Honolulu, Hawaii
T4           Marc Leishman  66-65-65-65—261            $US277,750
T11        Matt Jones          69-67-63-64—263            $153,450
31           Cameron Davis   68-66-67-66—267            $43,230
T41        Adam Scott         69-64-70-66—269            $24,090
T41        Aaron Baddeley 64-68-65-72—269            $24,090
T62        Cameron Smith  67-66-68-71—272            $14,454
MC         Tim Wilkinson     69-68—137
MC         Danny Lee           69-69—138
MC         Rhein Gibson      69-74—143