Marc Leishman’s remarkable final round at the Travelers Championship has not only handed him his maiden US PGA victory but also broken the almost year-long drought of Australian winners on the tour.
Adam Scott was the last Australian to lift a PGA title, at the World Golf Championships in Ohio early last August.
It’s the longest Australia has gone without a win on the tour in over four years since the 11-month gap between Scott’s Shell Houston Open win in April 2007 and Geoff Ogilvy’s CA Championship in March 2008.
Leishman’s win on Sunday puts the 28-year-old from Warrnambool in an exclusive club of 30 Australians to have hoisted a PGA trophy.
He’s also only the second Australian to win the Travelers Championship, alongside the country’s most prolific tour winner Greg Norman, who won in 1995.
“It’s awesome to be on any trophy that he is on,” Leishman said.
“I mean Arnold Palmer, I can see here. It’s a bit weird to know Arnold is on here. But it’s good.”
Leishman stormed home with a final round eight-under par 62 on the River Highlands course to finish 14-under for the tournament, one shot clear of Masters winner Bubba Watson and fellow American Charley Hoffman.
Leishman, who fired eight birdies in the bogey-free round, completed his round more than two hours ahead of the final pairing of Brian Davis and Roland Thatcher.
The 2009 PGA Tour rookie of the year was forced to endure an excruciating wait and watch a series of contenders fall by the wayside before he could be officially declared the winner.
“I was getting ready to have a beer. But I didn’t luckily,” Leishman said.
“I can’t believe it. When I finished I didn’t quite know if it would be good enough. I was pretty confident it wouldn’t be.
“They’re so hard to win and you take them any way you get them. But you’d almost rather … end the pressure yourself, make a few birdies to win rather than have someone hand it to you.”
He received $US1.08 million for the win – more than double his earnings to date this season.
Leishman, who has four international wins, has twice finished as runner-up on the PGA Tour, and tied for third at the Byron Nelson Championship last month.
Elsewhere in the field, Stuart Appleby slipped from third overnight to equal 18th with a two-over final round of 72, while fellow Australian Nathan Green dropped four places to equal 24th with a one-under 69.
Australian duo Greg Chalmers and Aaron Baddeley finished the week tied 37th at five under.