Marc Leishman is currently sitting 10 shots adrift of Scottie Scheffler at The Open, with just 18 holes left to play.
Leishman posted a third-round 68 at Royal Portrush, but he actually lost ground on Scheffler on day three at The Open Championship.
Scheffler is desperate to win The Open, and his golf on Saturday was symbolic of the burning desire within him.
Leishman played some mighty fine golf himself, but like every other golfer on the planet right now, he is nowhere near the levels that Scheffler has been consistently producing.
The 41-year-old has actually been in decent form this season, and has one win on LIV to his name.
Leishman suggested this week at The Open that he’s a big fan of links golf, so it’s no surprise to see him doing well.
Marc Leishman predicts what score Scottie Scheffler will reach at The Open
Leishman was happy with his round of 68.
At the same time, however, he accepted that he will not be catching Scheffler on Sunday.
The Australian was asked by reporters what his aim is heading into the final round of The Open at Portrush.
He said: “Obviously there’s the carrot dangling to try to get into the top 4 but also to try to get in the Open next year. Yes, you want to do something silly and try to go crazy low, but you also want to make sure you try to get back in last year and give yourself a chance to get into the other majors.
Probably more so looking at that. I’m nine back. Probably going to be more than ten back at the end of the day the way he’s playing. That will be too many, unless I do something really, really silly. He’s probably going to get to 20-under. I’m not going to shoot 56.“
That’s an honest take from Leishman and he’s absolutely bang on the money.
There is almost zero chance that anybody will be able to make up five shots on Scheffler in one round, let alone 10!
Marc Leishman’s Open game-plan for Sunday with Scheffler the champion elect
Leishman responded when asked whether he will be aggressive on Sunday at The Open.
He said: “I’m hitting it well enough to be aggressive. Depends what the conditions do. If the wind gets up a little bit, you’ve got to try and give yourself makable birdie putts on every hole. If it’s like it was today, you probably have to be a bit more aggressive and try and make something happen.
“It’s one of those things; you just have to hit good shots. If you’re not hitting good shots, whether you’re aggressive or conservative, you’re not going to have a good score. If you are hitting good shots, you can play that way and still have a good score.
“I feel like my iron play is really good at the moment, and there might be a few pins that I’ll be able to go at that maybe, depending on the situation, I might otherwise not go at. Yeah, we’ll see what the situation brings.“
Leishman has no chance whatsoever of catching Scheffler on Sunday at The Open.
So he will purely be focused on carding a solid round in the 60s and securing himself a top-10 finish, perhaps something even better.
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