Off the Leish: near misses fuel crack at elusive title

A six-time PGA Tour winner in the US, Leishman has never won a major individual title on home soil.

It's not from a lack of trying.

The 42-year-old will line up in his 16th Australian PGA Championship from Thursday at Royal Queensland Golf Club, where he has finished third in the past two years.

In 2017, ranked No.13 in the world and the freshly minted Greg Norman Medallist, he finished fourth.

A year later Leishman was runner-up, left to rue some tough breaks in a final-day shootout loss to good mate Cameron Smith.

He has 10 top-20 finishes at the event Smith has won three times, and added a third place at last year's Australian Open, which earned him a return to the British Open, where he was the only Australian to make the cut.

Leishman collected a top-40 US Open finish this year, as well as a LIV Golf Miami title, before returning to Australia early to play in last month's WA Open.

Next month's Australian Open, headlined by Masters champion Rory McIlroy, will also carry the new prize of a ticket to Augusta for the winner.

A noted beer brewer, Leishman says his relaxed nature should not be mistaken for indifference.

"I'm definitely easy-going on and off the course, but the will to win, the determination to win, is a big thing," Leishman said.

"Very competitive ... in the heat of the battle, I fight hard.

"Being close here the last few years ... having opportunities and not getting over the line is a little frustrating and disappointing.

"The will's there. I really want to win one of these things."

The Warrnambool product will have his work cut out in Brisbane this week, with a quality field assembled competing for a record $2.5 million in prize money.

Smith, 2023 winner Min Woo Lee, two-time champion Adam Scott, Cam Davis and defending champion Elvis Smylie headline the local hopes.

But in-form New Zealander Ryan Fox, a two-time PGA Tour winner, as well as LIV stars Joaquin Niemann and Abraham Ancer, England's Marco Penge and Denmark's Rasmus Neergard-Petersen bring serious international punch.

Lee, Smith and Penge will tee off at 6.10am (AEST) on the 10th hole on Thursday, with Scott, Fox and Smylie to follow in the next group.

Leishman, Ancer and Neergaard-Petersen will form one of the afternoon's marquee groups, trailing Davis, Niemann and in-form New Zealander Daniel Hillier's group.

The tournament will be held at the riverside course for a fifth straight year and is co-sanctioned with Europe's DP World Tour.

Australian Associated Press