After an under the radar performance at the Farmers Insurance Open, Marc Leishman heads to Arizona this week with unfinished business to take care of at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

The laid-back Victorian entered last year’s final round at TPC Scottsdale sharing seventh place and while five behind the leader was still a legitimate chance to contend.

However, a 2-over 73 on Sunday saw him slide down the standings and ultimately record an unsatisfying T24 finish.

It was the continuation of a pattern to that stage of the year for Leishman who just six weeks later claimed the Arnold Palmer Invitational tournament before embarking on the best season of his Professional career.

A vastly different player in 2018, Leishman has already shown steady form in the new wraparound season and having proven his liking for the TPC Scottsdale layout will be one to watch this week.

Leishman is one of six Australasians in the field alongside former winner Aaron Baddeley, Greg Chalmers, Cameron Smith, Geoff Ogilvy and New Zealand’s Danny Lee.

Baddeley has the best record of the group having won the title in 2007, the second of four career PGA TOUR victories.

The two-time Australian Open winner has had an indifferent start to this season with four missed cuts from seven starts, including last week at Torrey Pines.

Baddeley has a mixed history at TPC Scottsdale having missed the cut six times in 15 attempts and registering no top-10’s outside his victory.

New Zealand’s Danny Lee has an even more bizarre record at the tournament having made the cut just once in five starts but parlaying that weekend into an outright fourth place finish.

Lee is yet to find his rhythm in the new year though will be pleased to have broken a run of three straight missed cuts in qualifying for the weekend at Torrey Pines.

A final round 78 was obviously disappointing but scores of 69-71-73 will be a source of encouragement heading to TPC Scottsdale, a course which historically gives up much lower scoring.

After a missed cut and T42 in two previous appearances, Cameron Smith will be looking to improve on his record after another solid week in California.

Smith never looked at his best at Torrey Pines but showed great determination to climb into the top-20 by week’s end and is due to put together four good rounds.

Geoff Ogilvy and Greg Chalmers both have somewhat chequered histories at TPC Scottsdale, Ogilvy making 10 cuts in 15 starts though never cracking the top-10 while Chalmers has a best of T15 in 10 attempts.

Marc Leishman showed remarkable grit in the final round of the PGA TOUR’s Sentry Tournament of Champions, with the Greg Norman Medal winner producing one of the best scores of the day on Sunday in Hawaii.

The laid-back Victorian shared the 36-hole lead after some superb golf over the opening two rounds but a cold putter betrayed him on day three as he fell off the pace set by World Number 1 Dustin Johnson.

Despite the frustration of his 3-over 76 on Saturday, Leishman hit back with a brilliant 6-under 67 on Sunday to jump five places up the leaderboard to T7 and continue an astonishing recent run of form.

One of two Australians in the winners only field alongside reigning Australian PGA champion Cameron Smith, Leishman posted six birdies in a blemish free round at Kapalua’s Plantation Course.

While he will be less than pleased with his Saturday play it was important for the 34-year-old to make amends on Sunday and with four front-9 birdies, he put to rest any demons from the previous day.

It was an impressive display of tenacity after his struggles and an eventual T7 finish means Leishman now has two top-10 results in three starts for the new wraparound season to pick up where he left off in 2017.

While Leishman will be ruing his third round, for Smith it was the front-9 on Thursday which proved damaging after he racked up a clumsy triple bogey at the par-3 8th hole.

The mistake saw him slump to 5-over through the opening eight holes but, like Leishman, he impressed with a determined fightback.

Smith made his first birdie of the tournament immediately after the triple bogey and added two more on the back-9 to escape with a 2-over 75.

He was never quite at his best all week though did manage to post 15 birdies over the closing three rounds including a 5-under back-9 on Saturday.

Scores of 75-70-68-71 eventually saw Smith to a T17 result in the 34-man tournament, a good effort after being near the tail of the field on day one.

Greg Norman Medalist Marc Leishman has shot the round of the tournament, a 7-under 65 to have a share of the lead following round two of the Australian PGA Championship.

Teeing off at 6:10am in much kinder conditions than round one, Leishman was able to take advantage from the get go with birdies on three of his first five holes.

“I felt really good on the range and felt good yesterday as well. I was striking the ball well and thought I would be pretty aggressive all day, especially after making birdies on the first couple of holes,” Leishman said of his strong start.

“When you’re on a run like that and playing well, you sort of can afford to be aggressive. If you make a few mistakes, you feel like you can make some birdies.”

Winning one of Australia’s biggest tournaments is a significant omission from Leishman’s impressive resume and after his first two rounds in front of family and friends; the Warrnambool native is in a good spot heading in to the weekend’s play.

“We play tournaments all around the world and a lot of the places you don’t have a whole lot of support, so I think that would be the big thing.

“To win a tournament that you’ve grown up watching on TV, that you’ve gone and watched as a kid, you go there and of course one day you hope you’re going to play in it and possibly win it. But yeah, if it was to happen, it would be pretty huge.

“Playing in front of friends and family, that’s always nice no matter where it is. Here there seems to be more friends and family because it’s a bit closer to home. I think it would be huge.”

South Australian Adam Bland shot 6-under 66 again for his share of the lead on 12-under the card, with just the one bogey amongst his seven birdies today.

Bland said he was looking to keep the momentum rolling and is now in a strong position heading in to the weekend.

“It’s always great to get off to a flying start, but if you can’t back it up in the second round or at least be thereabouts, you’re kind of just chasing your tail for the rest of the week,” said Bland.

“So it was really important to get off to a good start this morning and I seemed to do that, so it was great.”

The hot start to the tournament hasn’t come as a surprise to Bland who knows he can post low scores if his game is in a good rhythm.

“I feel like my game, like when I’ve been playing well, it’s been good.  I just haven’t caught the momentum so I can’t really ride it and it’s been on and off.

“This week I’ve hit a lot of shots close, which I haven’t in previous weeks.  So I’ve had a lot of real free birdies which has been nice and birdied a few par-5s today so it was great.”

Two-time Australian PGA Champion Greg Chalmers stayed in the hunt for a third Kirkwood Cup following a round of 6-under 66 to sit third outright at 10-under the card.

He said his short game has been crucial on the RACV Royal Pines Resort layout.

“My short game saved me a few times.  I’ve been working really hard on my chipping and putting and I did a lot of that very well today.  So I’m really pleased with the turnaround in my game over this week,” said Chalmers.

“Every green’s elevated, you’ve got a lot of runoffs around the edges, so you’ve got to have a lot of confidence and be able to read the green and what sort of shot to hit based on that because it can make you look pretty silly sometimes.”

Queenslander Cameron Smith is 9-under par after his round of 5-under 67 but can still see improvements heading in to Saturday. Like Chalmers, Smith’s short game was the savior in round two.

“It was actually a pretty scrappy 5-under today, I guess the total opposite to yesterday,” said Smith.

“Yesterday I hit it really solid and didn’t really do much around the greens.  Today I hit it not my best but good enough, and then was really good around the greens and with the putter.”

Jordan Zunic and Rhein Gibson join Smith on 9-under par to share fourth position.

Defending champion Harold Varner III put himself in touch of the leaders after his round of 6-under 66 to be 7-under the card. Sergio Garcia is one further shot back on 6-under the card after a frustrating round for the Spaniard who shot 1-under 71.

“It wasn’t my best day out there today, I hit a couple really nice putts but probably a little bit tired I think physically and mentally,” said Garcia.

“Because of that, obviously my golf game wasn’t as sharp as I would like it to be. But I guess the good thing is we still fought hard, we stayed in it, and as uncomfortable as I felt out there, to be able to still shoot 1-under, it’s a positive thing.”

Adam Scott had a disappointing round, his 50^th round in the Australian PGA Championship tournament, shooting  2-over and will miss the weekend rounds.

It’s the first missed cut at the Australian PGA Championship for Scott since 2010.

“Like I said at the start of the week, I’ve got to lift my ball striking up. That’s where I lose too many shots and that’s the strength of my game,” said Scott.

“I’ve got to bring that back up to standard and that will just take some work when I get myself some time and I’ll be able to put some work in.”

The cut was made at 1-under the card.

Round three will begin at 6:26am with the leading group of Marc Leishman, Adam Bland and Greg Chalmers teeing off at 11am.

For round two scores visit pga.org.au.

For round three tee times visit pga.org.au.

Marc Leishman was last night named the 2017 Greg Norman Medal recipient ahead of the Australian PGA Championship held at RACV Royal Pines Resort from 30 November – 3 December.

The coveted award has capped off a career year for Leishman who won the BMW Championship and Arnold Palmer Invitational on the PGA TOUR.

He said the prospect of being named the Greg Norman Medal winner played a big part in his decision to tee it up on the Gold Coast this week rather than Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge event.

That and a nudge from wife Audrey sealed the deal.

“With my form I thought I had a pretty good chance of winning it, I just wanted to be there if I was to win,” Leishman said.

“It’s something that hopefully I will get another chance to win it and hopefully I will win it again, but I think if I hadn’t had come back and won it and wasn’t there to accept the award, I would have regretted it. I try and avoid having any regrets.

“My wife was pushing me out the door pretty much. She’s like, "You’ve really got to go."  To not come back to Australia for a year is hard. We’ve got family in America and all that and of course we want to come back, but sometimes you’ve got to put your family first.

“But when you’ve got the support of your wife to do it, that was a big thing along with obviously the medal.”

The accolades off the course are certainly appreciated by Leishman but come his tee time on Thursday, his eyes are well and truly focused on the Kirkwood Cup, something he’d love to etch his name into.

“You grow up and these are the tournaments that you watch as a kid and you see your idols playing them and winning them and you want to win them, I’m no different.

“I’ve seen my friends win them now and I would love to hoist the Kirkwood Cup up on Sunday, but you’ve got to play really good golf and just hope that someone else doesn’t play better than you.”

Leishman said he certainly didn’t ear mark the BMW and Arnold Palmer Invitational as tournaments he would set out to win, but rather focusing on the small things and taking the results as they come.

The next step for the Warrnambool local is to now win an elusive Major.

“Goal‑wise, I don’t really set like result goals. I try and just do everything right and let the results take care of themselves. That’s what I did this year and it worked pretty well, so I’ll try and do the same.

“Having said that, to contend in a Major and hopefully win a Major would be the main goal.  A lot of things have to go right to do that. There’s only four Majors every year,” added Leishman.

“You’ve got to play well on the right week.  So if I can just keep playing the way I have been, play well more consistently, I feel like that gives me my best chance to try and contend and win Majors.”

It’s the logical next step in Leishman’s career who said he’s used to climbing steadily through his career.

“I think my whole career’s been baby steps. I started out on the Von Nida Tour (now the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia) here and worked my way to Korea and then onto the Web.com Tour and the PGA TOUR and won the Travelers and worked up to a European Tour event and Bay Hill and a playoff (FedEx Cup) event, so I feel like the next step is to try and win a Major.

“So I’ll do everything I can to try and do that, try and keep the balance really good in life and golf and I feel that gives me my best chance.”

Marc Leishman tees off for round one of the Australian PGA Championship at 11:10am alongside defending champion Harold Varner III and Matt Jones.

For full tee times visit pga.org.au.

General admission to the Australian PGA Championship is $25* when purchased at the gate or via Ticketmaster with children, 16 and under, granted free admission when attending with a paying adult. 

Since Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott and Marc Leishman were announced to play the Australian PGA Championship, Saturday and Sunday tickets to the Lexus Marquee on the Soniq Million Dollar Hole and the Kirkwood Club have sold out. Fans who want to join in the festival atmosphere are encouraged to book tickets from Thursday to Friday quickly due to unprecedented demand.

Limited corporate hospitality options are still available, please visit pgachampionship.com.au.