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Leishman hottest Aussie as Masters looms

3 minute read

Marc Leishman will enter the Masters at Augusta as Australia's most in-form golfer after a solid effort at the WGC-Match Play.

MARC LEISHMAN of Australia plays his shot at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia.
MARC LEISHMAN of Australia plays his shot at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. Picture: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

Marc Leishman is excited by his form going into the Masters after cementing his status as the form Australian with a solid performance at the World Golf Championships-Match Play in Texas.

The only Australian with a US PGA Tour victory this season, Leishman was the last Aussie standing at the $US10.25 million ($A14.4m) WGC-Match Play in Texas.

Two-time WGC-Match Play winner Jason Day and fellow Queenslander Cameron Smith failed to advance from the group stage while 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott was one of just two big names to skip the event.

Leishman, who won the US PGA Tour's CIMB Classic in Malaysia in October, topped his group with three victories but was eliminated by South African Louis Oosthuizen 2 and 1 in Saturday's round of 16 at Austin Country Club.

However, Leishman's form at a WGC featuring 64 of the top 66 players in the world is a good sign for the Masters which starts on Thursday week.

"Contending this week was great preparation for the Masters," Leishman told AAP.

"My game feels great; it's the best I've driven it for a long time and I'm going to need that at Augusta. I'm also putting well.

"Everything is trending in the right direction and hopefully I can convert that into a good result at Augusta.

"The main thing is I'm turning up to the golf course feeling I can contend."

Leishman was loathe to make any excuses for his exit at the hands of 2010 British Open winner Oosthuizen but admitted winning the WGC could be considered peaking too early.

"Obviously, this was not the result I was after ... but it leaves me wanting for more going to the Masters," Leishman said.

"If you win this, you may not have the same determination at Augusta."

Matt Kuchar downed 2017 Master champion Sergio Garcia to book a semi-finals clash with unheralded Dane Lucas Bjerregaard, while in-form Italian Francesco Molinari will meet Kevin Kisner for a place in the final.

Bjerregaard beat Tiger Woods when Woods flubbed a pitch shot into greenside bunker on the 18th hole and subsequently missed a four-foot par putt - handing Bjerregaard a one-up victory.

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