Marc Leishman satisfied with showing in Masters

On a banner day for Au­stral­ians at the Masters Tour­na­ment, Marc Leishman kind of got lost in the crowd.

But the 29-year-old earned an invitation to next year’s Mas­ters with his best finish in a major, shooting even-par 72 on Sunday to tie for fourth with Tiger Woods at 5-under 283 for the tournament.

“I take a lot of confidence out of this week,” Leishman said. “I don’t have any negatives from not winning. The first four months of the year haven’t been great for me, golfwise. But this turns what’s been an average year into a decent one.

“I felt really comfortable out there for the first time being in a position like this,” he said. “I’m really excited for the rest of the year now.”

After the round, Leishman was all smiles as he held his 8-month-old son, Harvey, while taking questions from the media as his wife, Audrey, stood by his side.

After bogeying the par-3 fourth hole, Leishman birdied the ninth to make the turn in 36. He made birdie on No. 11 with what he said was his best putt of the day.

A turning point came at the par-5 15th. Leish­man was in contention but needed an eagle to put the heat on the leaders. After a solid drive, he chose a 5-iron for his second shot and ended up in the water fronting the green, leading to a bogey.

“If it had landed another 2 feet, it would have skipped up on the green, but I hit it a little bit fat,” said Leishman, who lives in Virginia Beach, Va. “I really needed a three there. I had to go all in to get in a position to win. I went for it and didn’t pull it off, but that’s golf.”

Though things didn’t work out as well as Leishman hoped, he was satisfied with his performance and excited for fellow Australian Adam Scott, who was getting ready for the playoff he went on to win against Angel Cabrera.

“I would love to have a couple of beers with him,” Leishman said of Scott. “It would probably turn into quite a few beers tonight if he pulls it off.”