Aussie Marc Leishman comfortable in PGA Tour bubble despite another coronavirus positive in California

Marc Leishman is comfortable and keen to keep playing despite another player testing positive to COVID-19 at this week’s US PGA Tour event where the Aussie is the defending champ.

Aussie Marc Leishman will defend his title at Torrey Pines in California this week. Picture: Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images

Marc Leishman hasn’t been home to Australia or seen his parents for 12 months and has seen close-up the impacts of coronavirus that continues to cause “chaos” in the US.

For the first time in his career, the amiable star from Warrnambool didn’t get to play a single tournament in his home country either as COVID-19 ripped the heart out of the local tour, with all major tournaments called off.

But stringent protocols put in place by the US PGA Tour have allowed Leishman and the best players in the world to keep playing.

More than a dozen players, including fellow Aussie Adam Scott and Masters champion Dustin Johnson, still contracted coronavirus before recovering to rejoin the tour.

And Kamaiu Johnson, who was set to play in this week’s Farmer’s Insurance Open at Torrey Pines where Leishman is defending his title, had to withdraw after testing positive.

PGA TOUR Statement on Kamaiu Johnson pic.twitter.com/Sk0Ql628vc

— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) January 26, 2021

But Leishman, the world number 31, said he felt “comfortable” playing inside the tour protocols despite the virus still wreaking havoc in the US outside of it.

“I know people, not first-hand, but I know guys who have had COVID. Some of my friends have had friends that have passed away from it, so obviously there’s a lot of bad stuff that is happening and it’s caused a lot of chaos over here,” Leishman said from California.

“I guess it’s concerning for everyone, not just the internationals. Hopefully, we can get on top of it, get these vaccines under way and things will start getting under control. I’m not a doctor, I don’t know the ins and outs of it, but hopefully it starts getting better soon.

“I feel very fortunate to still have a job. I mean, the PGA Tour has done a great job with testing. It‘s been smooth, it’s been effective, I think. For us to still be travelling around the country with very few cases I think is a credit to them and what they’ve done.”

Leishman started 2020 on fire, winning at Torrey Pines last January before the tour was forced to shut down. When it resumed in July, Leishman battled, and he still doesn’t know why.

He missed six cuts, including at the US PGA and US Open.

Coming into his defense of the ⁦@FarmersInsOpen⁩ ⁦@marcleish⁩ finished T4 at the ⁦@SonyOpenHawaii⁩ in his last start on ⁦@PGATOUR⁩ pic.twitter.com/M6NS83Ndcg

— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) January 26, 2021

Leishman said he didn’t “panic” but flew his coach to the US to find the problem.

The found it, and Leishman bounced back with a top-10 finish at the Masters in November and started 2021 finishing fourth at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

“He had to do that two-week hotel quarantine when he got back, but he was kind enough to do that to come over and help me. He picked it up after about a day or two what I was doing (wrong),” Leishman said.

“I would never have picked up what I was doing. So I owe probably my play since the Masters to him making that trip and doing that. Yeah, I’m not a person who panics easily, but I will say that I was getting pretty annoyed.”

Leishman, who isn’t a “goal setter”, hopes that 2020 period of poor golf is behind him and his next win isn’t too far away.

“I do just want to do everything that I did last year better. I feel like if I do the process the right way, I feel like results take care of themselves,” he said.

“I don’t really like having results-oriented goals, I just like making sure my process gets better and then the results take care of themselves. If I get a sniff, I want to win, and hopefully I can just give myself chances, that’s all I can ask for.”

Originally published as Aussie Marc Leishman comfortable in PGA Tour bubble despite another coronavirus positive in California