‘No regrets:’ Marc Leishman’s major return shows different side of golf’s fracture

Marc Leishman hasn’t had this moment for three years. The last time the Australian played major championship golf, he was leaving the Old Course at St. Andrews after a missed cut at the 2022 Open Championship.

His decision to sign with LIV Golf meant he’d be risking access to golf’s biggest stages. He knew that joining the breakaway league, which came with a hefty signing bonus, would come with consequences he’d have to live with. The six-time PGA Tour winner, who lost the 2015 Open Championship to Zach Johnson in a playoff, had to weigh the opportunities in front of him with LIV — both financial and from a family perspective — against the possibility that he’d say goodbye to major championship golf forever should he be unable to qualify for the two “open” majors.

Leishman missed all the majors in 2023 and 2024. He didn’t receive a special invite to either the Masters or PGA Championship this season, but he survived a three-for-two playoff at a final qualifying event to punch his U.S. Open ticket and make his return to major championship golf.

Despite the almost three-year major hiatus, Leishman doesn’t regret the decision he made to jump to the upstart league. In fact, he might be the happiest player on LIV Golf.

“You never know anything,” Leishman said Saturday when asked if he worried he’d never return to the majors. “Life is pretty uncertain at times. Obviously, I want to be here. These are the biggest tests in golf. I knew that was going to be a chance when I signed with LIV. I knew that could have been one of the negatives. But the positives so much outweighed the negatives for me.

“You wonder, of course, if you’re going to get into them again, but there is certainly no regret because, like I said, my life is as good as it’s ever been right now. I’m as happy as I’ve ever been. Of course, I would rather be playing the majors, but I really enjoyed just sitting down with my kids and mates watching the Masters and the PGA.”

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Leishman’s major championship return saw him make the cut at Oakmont, a course where he finished T18 at the 2016 U.S. Open, and shoot a 2-under-par 68 in the third round Saturday to move into the top 20. The 41-year-old Australian, who was the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 2009, won his first LIV event earlier this year at Doral at LIV Miami. He also earned his way into the 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush by virtue of a T3 finish at the Australian Open.

Leishman, who claims to have found professional and personal bliss after the move to LIV Golf, contends that the mixture of LIV’s talent and the lighter schedule has pushed him to become a better golfer. (For context: Per DataGolf, Leishman is gaining 0.41 strokes per round this year on LIV Golf. That ranks 16th on LIV. In 2019, his best season on the PGA Tour, he gained 1.19 per round, which ranked 24th.)

“It feels great,” Leishman said of contending at Oakmont. “There’s nothing bad about contending in a major. It has been a while, but like I said, I’ve been playing some really good golf. We play against really, really strong fields every single week on LIV, and I think doing that has made me work harder not only on my golf game but my body and my head, and that lends itself to more family life, too. Like I said, life is in a good spot at the moment for me. I’m very happy.

“I’ve been playing probably some of my best golf of my career this year,” Leishman added. “I think the schedule sort of lends itself to be able to work on your game between tournaments, and I was able to really prepare for this tournament.”

Leishman will go out Sunday at Oakmont looking to finish in the top four and earn a ticket into the next run of majors while playing shotgun starts as a member of Ripper GC.

As the lanky Australian bounced around Oakmont this week, it was a reminder that the talent lost to golf’s fracture goes deeper than the Jon Rahms and Bryson DeChambeaus. Leishman is a multi-time PGA Tour winner with three top 10s at the Masters and the Open Championship. He was once the 12th-ranked player in the world.

Now, he plays 14 times a year under the Ripper GC banner and has not been present at major championships until this week. All while the world of professional golf is littered with “could haves” and “what ifs,” with frustrations and regrets.

Marc Leishman has none of that, and that will remain whether he shoots 66 or 80 on Sunday at Oakmont. He made his choice and is content with his decisions. In life, and in golf, things only move forward.

“Like I said, my game has been feeling good. My head is in a good spot, as well. Life is just good at the moment.”