After confirming his place in the US Open
field last week Marc Leishman played perfect US Open style golf on his way to a
top-15 finish at the Dean and DeLuca Invitational in Texas.

Leishman will be in the field at Oakmont in
two weeks courtesy of his world ranking and if he can reproduce the steady golf
he displayed at Colonial this week it will hold him in good stead at the
Pennsylvania layout.

Rounds of 68-67-69-69 were built around
solid ball striking and good putting, Leishman finding almost 70 per cent of
the greens in regulation and gaining more than a stroke on the field with his
putter.

The laid back Victorian has proved himself
a big event player in the past with some of his best career results coming in some
of the world’s most important tournaments.

After coming close at last year’s Open
Championship Leishman will have his sights set on performing well at Oakmont
and will take confidence from his play in Texas.

Also pleased will be Steven Bowditch who
looks to have turned around a horror run in 2016. Last week’s defending
champion broke a run of six straight missed cuts with three sub par rounds and
a top-25 finish, his best result since a T10 at the limited field Hyundai
Tournament of Champions in January.

Leishman and Bowditch were the only two
Australians to finish in red numbers, Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley both
finishing the week 2-over par and T55.

Matt Jones, John Senden and Geoff Ogilvy
all missed the cut, Ogilvy particularly disappointing after being 4-under
through the opening nine holes of the tournament before fading.