Sporting a bag full of new equipment and plenty of confidence, Marc Leishman kicked 2016 off in style at the Sony Open despite some late hiccups which took the edge off an otherwise excellent week.

The Victorian came to Waialae Country Club the form player among the Australians after winning his last start in South Africa just prior to christmas.

But while a change in equipment can often be a nervous time for a Touring Professional, Leishman will be pleased with his performance in Hawaii where he made 16 birdies and an eagle for the week.

His only disappointment will be a run of three consecutive back nine bogies on Sunday after reaching 13-under and looking likely to kickstart his year with a top 10.

In a low scoring tournament that proved costly and his final result of T28 was less than he might have hoped for.

Only three of the seven Australians who started the week played all four days, Robert Allenby and Stuart Appleby missing the 36 hole cut while Cameron Smith and Steven Bowditch fell victim to the third round cut.

With 87 players surviving at the halfway mark the PGA TOUR policy of reducing the field to top 70 and ties after round three saw both Queenslanders dispatched, Smith after a 3-over 73 and Bowditch a 77.

John Senden and Adam Scott were the two to join Leishman on Sunday, Senden finishing 9-under for the week and T42 and Scott 7-under and T56.

It was a case of two steps forward and one back most of the week for Scott who played some quality golf in his first outing of the year but mixed it with some less than impressive play as well.

The former World Number 1 admitted he had done little in the way of practise over the Christmas break but will be pleased enough with his game overall.

Like Leishman he made 16 birdies for the week but made too many mistakes to ever be in genuine contention.