Marc Leishman’s Focused on Growing Golf in Australia

Marc Leishman looks forward to LIV Golf Adelaide all-year round, but that’s not the only golf in Australia that’s important to him.

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Let’s uh let’s let’s talk a little bit
now that we’re on the golf subject um
and you played in 45 Majors uh hopefully
the day comes soon sooner rather than
later that the world wakes up to the
fact that there’s now competition and
these guys are actually really
good and they should be in the majors
the Masters pulled off a really good job
it was a great event and it was
fantastic to watch on TV I still think
there were three minimum if not more
guys from Liv who would have added two
the overall weight of the product but
neither here nor there now hopefully
that gets settled out but one of the
benefits to you joining live is that you
now get to not have to take time away
from your competitiveness on the PGA
tour to go back to Australia and support
the two biggest events down there that
are huge to you guys as Australians
almost everybody who plays the PJ tour
who’s from Australia takes time out of
their schedule and and falls behind
certain you know points or what money
list to go support those events not
everybody but most guys do and most guys
have throughout history those events in
the S late 70s 80s early 90s were almost
like a fifth major the Aussie open first
and foremost and the Aussie PGA and now
you and you’ve always been committed to
going back Cam’s always been committed
to going back and now you guys get to do
that and embrace it and is that I mean
one of the one of the benefits to live
is the first part of the question and
secondly is it is the importance of that
to you why we see what we saw last year
in Adelaide and what we’re going to see
next week in Adelaide in terms of the
golf craziness for for world class
competition The Thirst for it in your
country yeah 100% um yeah I mean there’s
that is certainly one of the positives
of um of coming to live was to to do
that um to be able to we want to spend
more time in Australia um you know I’ve
lived in America for what since 2008 16
16 17 years now um so you know as a as
an Australian you’ve you have to pack up
and and leave your home country and
everything you know to to come and make
a living at of golf and um now to be
able to make a living around the world
um including
Australia uh and spending more time in
Australia and having an offseason it’s
it’s been massive um I remember going to
the Australian master
and and the Australian PJ and the
Australian Open in the early 90s um
and you’re right that they were like
major Fields you know you’d have
obviously Norman supported it you Amaker
fch well you had
American yeah like Bernard Langer like
Fred Couples would be there like there’s
a lot there was so many guys that would
go down there and um and just love it I
mean it’s not only for the competition
but for everything else as well you know
the the they’re just great places to go
you know there there’s a lot of cool
stuff to to see in the cities that that
we play in and and the golf courses are
amazing and um to be able to to Showcase
that now with Liv in the middle of the
season um in Adelaide which a lot of
people had probably never heard of
Adelaide um but it’s um you would
probably have been there Nationwide two
a days and I remember that and I I
played the when you were four four years
old turning five I played season down
under played the Australian Open at
royal royal Sydney um but you didn’t
come to those events you were still a
little too young but no I love I love
Australia um I would say Adelaide’s my
second favorite city in all of Australia
I do love Adelaide but anyway I
interrupted your question yeah well
Perth is my first no question my
favorite place on Earth really my
favorite place on Earth yes but ad Liv I
love ad we’ve interrupted Mark’s great
answer no you’re good no it it is a it’s
a great City and they love their sport
uh they support it
um I mean last year going to the
tournament I had a a feeling it was
going to be massive um and and it was it
just exceeded I think everyone’s
expectations uh it was it was one of the
coolest things I’ve ever seen um golf or
or not golf you know with all the
concerts there and
um just the amount of this the diversity
in the crowd
um like a lot of golf
tournaments
uh you know I would say the average
demographic is 40 to 60 year old man you
know a few ladies white male right
exactly yes it wasn’t there to have I
mean the amount of kids that were out
there the amount of like girls that were
out there um it was just unbelievable to
see um and it’s funny now being a father
of of a little girl um I I notice all
the all the kids in the crowd and I used
to I was one of those kids in the crowd
you know years ago in the early 90s um
and I remember how much of a buzz it was
to to get a golf ball and um now I I’m
pretty conscious to make sure that
throughout the day I throw a few golf
balls to the girls because I know my as
my daughter would love to to get that so
that that’s sort of
um it’s just so good to see the
diversity in the crowd whether you know
men women kids um and everything in
between we’ve spoken to so many players
literally so many players and everybody
says the same thing adelade is the
destination they’re looking forward to
the most John ROM said that uh when we
interviewed him when he just joined our
league I have like a huge list of
everything that I look for for to when I
go there uh first of all I Australia is
my second home as you know uh but I want
to know what are you looking forward to
the most next week in la oh great
question again that is a good question
actually um so I’m going don’t sound so
surprised yeah she’s actually very good
at
this so I’m going home in the tomorrow
actually so Le Lee leean gives me enough
don’t worry he gives me enough
I
do I think I’m I’m a third favorite
Ripper um so who’s last I don’t
know um so so uh yeah I mean honestly
the thing I’m looking forward to the
most
is yes the golf being at the golf
tournament but the thing I’m looking
forward to most is the buzz in the city
when you’re like
I remember last year I went for a beer
with my dad on the on the Thursday night
before the first round um and I went
into a into a pub and we just thought
we’d have a quiet beer well that didn’t
happen um there was everyone in the city
was a golfer and they were so excited to
see that the golfers were in town and I
was in this Pub having a beer and it was
just I felt like a I felt like a rock
star it was um
really cool for a week I don’t know how
i’ go handling that all the time but for
that week the just the feeling around
town and the the
way that um the buzz in the in the city
I think that’s the thing that I’m I’m
looking forward to the most apart from
the golf because the golfs are you know
and the and the buzz of the golf course
is is great but um just that it’s not
very often you go to a um a golf
tournament and there’s that buzz around
town I think you get it the Masters you
get it at the at the British Open and I
think you get it at the West management
yeah I was I was going to say the
players I was going to say the players
Jacksonville really support that
tournament um but apart from that you
don’t really get it The Travelers in um
in Connecticut it’s uh I did yes yes
you’re first yeah first one so I had to
get that in there hang
on so um yeah that’s a that’s a a good
one to just to to have that feeling
around town yeah I remember I was in
down downtown last year and and to your
point you can definitely feel it because
I had to it’s a long story I burned one
of my dresses anyways I had to go
downtown to go shopping wait wait wait
we got time and uh no no no no I’m not
no no I’m gonna look so stupid were you
wearing it no I was so I had to host I
had to host the welcome party that night
which was at the oval
and I had rented this beautiful dress
and uh it’s very delicate and it was a
beautiful dress and I because obviously
I’m traveling so I have to shove it in
my freaking luggage right
you I yeah you it’s a thing for women we
can’t afford to be buying like $500
dresses all the time anyway so I ended
up having to like steam it because it’s
all crinkled and I think I put a wrong
setting on the steamer and I just went
like this and a whole
just just a whole so and that was the
day of the welcome party so I was like
oh I gotta go downtown I gotta find
something and by the way the shops in
Australia Open so early yeah they do I
think I was there at like 9 a. and it
was open normally
early you guys close early yeah um
anyways my point to that sidebar um is
that when I was there there was an
activation that was happening for live
but you can like you said you can
certainly feel the town really just so
excited to have this Calio of players
and just have this level of golf back in
Australia and and all I know when we
were at our hotel so many people had
traveled I spoke to so many people who
had traveled from mbour Sydney he that
it comes to watch this event New Zealand
yeah it it was it’s awesome golf golf
though uh gol though leash is in
Australia it’s it’s the weirdest thing
to me from an outsider having been there
and and literally had I not been married
when I went down to play there I would
have never left because I love it that
much I I just love the people the
mentality of the people um but golf in
Australia is very fractured for a
country that’s golf nuts starving for
world class golf but absolutely golf
crazy in some of the best courses in the
world it’s fractured between your two
organizing bodies what we would know in
America’s USGA and the PGA of America
you have the Australian PGA and golf
Australia and neither one really really
embraced live uh because these two are
always fighting for power when if they
were one unit you would have the
Australian Open be legitimately much
like the Australian Open in tennis be
something that you couldn’t miss um did
you and cam ever like have a
conversation with regarding Liv and
saying this frees us up to go back and
support now because I know that James
Southerland has come out finally in
support of golf Australia CEO um in
support of the live event and how and he
he now sees the value in it in terms of
the good it does for golf in Australia
and Australia in general um did you and
cam ever have like a conversation saying
this really gives us a chance to now go
support what we always wanted to do and
not have to worry about anything else um
yeah yeah we did um before we did go to
live we had some long discussions uh
because obviously you know it was a it
was a massive decision for for both of
us um probably more so for cam at the
stage of his career he was in compared
to me um but we actually I actually had
a
conversation um with the guys who run
the Australian Open this year and I said
to him like this is I feel like this is
a massive opportunity for for the
Australian Open to have like basically
become the The Unofficial fifth major
again because to get back on the m
the guys can’t play together on the PGA
tour you know like the guys can’t play
together on the live tour if you have
the Australian Open at Raw Melbourne or
one of the you know the premier golf
courses in the world everyone could go
there and it could be just this
ridiculous golf tournament um on an like
you could make it something unbelievable
and um I hope that they they realize the
the opportunity that’s there um because
I feel like like if there is a golf
tournament at Royal melbour I don’t
think there’s many people in the world
that that wouldn’t want to go um I’ll be
there yeah I think it would be I
think it would be unbelievable so
hopefully that happens one day and um if
things don’t you know happen before then
I I don’t know what’s going on I I try
and stay out of it um but it’s uh yeah I
think it’s a huge opportunity for for
the the Australian tournament the PGA in
the open to to do something pretty big
if they can quit fighting I think
they’re starting to come together a
little bit I think I haven’t I mean I
haven’t been in Australia for so long um
for long enough to to know what’s
happening but I think they’re they’re
pretty civil to be honest it took Peter
melan Peter melanowski says he’s a
premier of South Australia right it took
him to take a chance well I mean a lot
of places wanted this event but he took
a chance and invested in the event and
made a Believer out of the whole country
overnight it was literally I I don’t
have never met the guy I know suan you
have at the at the at the burn dress
party um but I am a huge fan of the guy
for having the wos uh
which to to take the chance and see the
potential of the investment my God has
it paid off oh my God Adelaide is on the
map for everybody who’s a live golf fan
or a golf fan who’s saw what happened
last year they want to go to Adelaide
and good for him yeah I mean and he that
a risk um you know early on was a big
risk cuz he put put his money where his
mouth was
and and you just had to look at the
tournament last year to see what it
brought to the to the state of South
Australia and um and what it’s going to
bring again this year it’s going to be
more this year um they like I said that
hopefully that risk gets re know
rewarded and and it’s going to be there
for for years down the track um because
it’s uh I say the way it was was
supported the way he supported it um the
golf course everything about it just the
way it was it was pretty special so um I
was you know I met Peter last year and
it was the first time i’ met him um yeah
he did did seems like a really nice
fellow and um encouraged me to do a
shoey on the uh on the 12th hole on the
on the last day so you know that was
awesome that was your final hole wasn’t
it that was the last hole Yeah so they
yeah it was um yeah nice cold beer going
into a warm shoe it turns warm pretty
quickly Su so um yeah that was uh that
was pretty interesting but um you know
who knows what’s GNA happen this year be
nice if one of us could be
celebrating yeah one of the ri boys I
think I took a shoy out of suan Shu that
Sunday night did I not at our pizza
party no uh that was no that was um we
ended up doing that in Mexico okay oh
well of course why wouldn’t you do it in
Mexico um because I no because I because
no because did it with Cam in Mexico
last year it was my first hang time and
we did a I did a shoe with Cam remember
that end up doing that yeah it was it
was so fun we need a ripper Ace on the
party
hole yes we never need another highlight
as long as we all exist if we have a rip
race on the party hole it would turn
into it would turn in the most well
respectful respectfully
behaved absolute pandemonium that you’ve
ever seen you could just shut it down
right there shut it down T’s over T’s
over it’s over yeah