Short on star power, but Leishman defends World Cup of Golf field

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This was published 5 years ago

Short on star power, but Leishman defends World Cup of Golf field

By Adam Pengilly

Marc Leishman doesn't expect the fact not one player in the world's top 20 will travel for the World Cup of Golf to dimish the US$7 million tournament, which is likely to have his Australian pairing with Cameron Smith pegged as favourites.

Leishman, the world No.22, is set to be the highest ranked player to contest the teams-based event at Melbourne's Metropolitan Golf Club in November after a slew of topline stars turned their backs on the tournament.

Backer: Marc Leishman.

Backer: Marc Leishman.Credit: AP

The affable Victorian opted for the red-hot Smith, who has had two top-three finishes in the FedEx Cup Playoffs to soar to No.31 in the world, over Adam Scott, who partnered Leishman in the last World Cup on Australian soil in 2016.

The top 14 Americans on the world rankings - including some of the sport's biggest names such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka - turned down opportunities to headline the United States team.

Eventually world No.27 Kyle Stanley accepted an invite, choosing to partner Matt Kuchar, who will also play in the Australian Open in Sydney.

But Leishman, who was able to choose a teammate for the event after Jason Day's withdrawal due to the imminent birth of his third child, leapt to the defence of the tournament, which boasts the biggest purse on Australian soil.

Asked about the lack of top 20 stars, Leishman said: "[It's] probably a little bit disappointing, but I guess the timing with it being the week of Thanksgiving, particularly with the American guys, that's a tough one for them to leave home for.

Personally, I'm not going to let that put a dampener on the tournament or hopefully any success that we have there

Marc Leishman

"Personally, I'm not going to let that put a dampener on the tournament or hopefully any success that we have there. It's still going to be a great field on an unbelievably good golf course.

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"So hopefully they'll have the course nice and firm and it will play like the Melbourne sandbelt and I think the field's going to be good enough that the week of the tournament no one's going to be talking about it."

Leishman was forced to make the difficult choice between Australian PGA and US Tour winner Smith and Scott, who has found a semblance of form after a difficult 18 months.

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And there was no way he wasn't going to return to Australia himself as he eyes a first significant tournament win Down Under.

"It was a tough phone call to have to make to [Scott], but like I said to him, 'I'm lucky that Cam's played too good for me not to pick him'," Leishman said. "I feel like as hard a decision it was, Cam made it a quite straightforward one.

"It's certainly a priority of mine to be there and not only support Australian golf, but I remember going to the events when I was a kid and watching Greg Norman and Ian Baker-Finch play and Wayne Grady and all the guys came back.

"I'll never forget that and that's something that I want to give the kids as well, the guys that they see play on TV play in America every week ... I think they need to see us play in person."

Asked about when Leishman broke the news to him, 25-year-old Smith said: "He had his boys on Facetime and they all congratulated me, so it was pretty cool. I said a few inappropriate words in front of his two boys there."

The World Cup of Golf will feature 28 two-man teams alternating between foursomes and fourball.

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