Marc Leishman claims first US Tour win in Connecticut

HE began the day watching mate Marcus Fraser lose a playoff and finished it watching the European soccer championship.

Marc Leishman

HE began the day watching good mate Marcus Fraser lose a playoff in Germany and finished it watching the European soccer championship.

But in between, Marc Leishman set himself up for life.

Leishman, 28, fired a blistering eight-under-par 62 - the lowest winning final-round score on the US PGA Tour this season - to come from the clouds to win the Travelers Championship at the TPC River Highlands course in Cromwell, Connecticut.

The $1million pay day - more than doubling his earnings this season - earned him a two-year PGA Tour exemption, a start in next year's US Masters and a likely berth in next month's British Open.

He stared in near disbelief at the trophy which bears the names Greg Norman and Arnold Palmer among a host of golf's greats.

"It's a bit weird to be honest. To know that I'm going to go on there," Leishman said.

"When I woke up this morning, I definitely didn't think I'd be in this situation, but I'll gladly take it.

"It's an unbelievable feeling - it's probably not the way I expected to get my first win, but you take 'em when you can get 'em, any way you can."

The Victorian's blemish-free round catapulted him from 20th, six shots behind at the start of the final round, in winning Australia's 151st US tour title, but first since Adam Scott's WGC Bridgestone triumph in August last year.

So far back was he that the gentle Warrnambool giant, the 2009 US PGA Tour's rookie of the year, had to wait more than two hours after finishing his round for his maiden PGA Tour win to be confirmed.

And even then it came after American Charley Hoffman capitulated, blowing a two-shot lead with two holes to play, which meant Leishman killed time alongside caddie and best mate Matt Kelly by watching Euro 2012 until his long-held dream became reality.

"I didn't think it was going to be enough," Leishman said of his 14-under finish, one stroke clear of Hoffman and US Masters champion Bubba Watson.

"Golf is a funny game, a really funny game.

"You'd almost rather make a few birdies coming in to win, rather than have someone hand it to you.

"But having said that, I'm not going to give this back or anything."

Leishman's win gave him his second top-10 finish this season, but said his own late fadedout to finish tied for third in last month's Byron Nelson Championship had been vital.

"I had a real good chance to win there, but had a (late) bogey, but that had a lot to do with how I played today.

"Once I got into contention, when I saw I saw I had a chance if I made a couple more birdies coming in, that really helped me - being under that pressure (in Texas) made me feel a lot more relaxed today."

Leishman fired five front-nine birdies, made a great sand save on the 10th, then three more birdies on 13, 14 and the tough 17th.

But his eighth professional win - first since the 2008 Victorian PGA Championship at Melbourne's Sanctuary Lakes - wasn't confirmed until the final group when Roland Thatcher needed a birdie to force a playoff, but stumbled with a bogey to finish tied for fourth.

Hoffman's closing 10 minutes proved Leishman's making. The wild-haired American appeared to have victory in his grasp, leading by two with two holes to play, but dunked his ball in the water on the par-four 17th and then made bogey on 18.

Leishman's win capped a superb 24 hours for Australian golf with Queenslander Brad Kennedy saluting in the Mizuno Open, his maiden win in Japan that also earned him a British Open berth next month.

Prolific Brendan Jones, of New South Wales, also earned a start in the Open courtesy of his standing on the Japanese money list, while Adelaide's Nick Cullen also finished in a tie for 15th.

Fraser, like Leishman coached by Melbourne's Denis McDade, eventually lost a marathon four-hole playoff to finish runner-up on the European Tour's BMW International in Germany.

"That would have been nice if `Frase' could have knocked that off," Leishman said.

"That was a little bit of incentive for me actually, I was watching before I teed off and thought I'd try to get one for Denis, so it's good to be able to do it - good day for him."

It was the fifth time in seven years a player has won his maiden US PGA Tour title at the Travelers Championship, but the first Aussie triumph there since Greg Norman in 1995.

Stuart Appleby slipped from third overnight to equal 18th with a 72 to finish eight under, while fellow Australian Nathan Green dropped four places to equal 24th one stroke further back. Greg Chalmers and Aaron Baddeley finished tied 37th at five under.