Date: February 22, 2016
Author: Robert Grant

Calmer Leishman back in the mix

<image="1" align="left" /> 

Victorian Marc Leishman has revealed a small but vital swing adjustment has taken him from missed cuts to instant competitive form.

Leishman missed the cut at his past two tournaments last month, including the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

But he rebounded instantly with a tie for fifth behind winner Bubba Watson and second-placed Adam Scott at the Northern Trust Open this past weekend.

Leishman said that an examination of his swing led to the discovery of a small flaw which had been holding him back.

"I saw a coach on the Saturday of Torrey Pines and we found something – I was aiming left," Leishman said.

"So I felt like I was only hitting pulls or a thin right shot but my pulls were actually a good shot so that's right where I was aiming.

"Maybe it was a blessing in disguise to miss that cut and do a bit of work on the range with (coach) Denis (McDade).

"He picked it up straight away and I started hitting the ball great pretty much instantly. That was probably the key, gave me confidence."

Early in the Northern Trust event Leishman said he had a lot of opportunities to stay within sight of the leaders.

"I made a fair share of them but left quite a few out there but that happens," he said.

"I'm happy to give myself chances. The past few years here, it feels like I've been fighting to make the cut every year. It was nice to not have to fight just to be around for the weekend."

Leishman said the Pacific Palisades course in California was one of his favourite layouts.

"When I first came here, this is actually one of the courses I thought I would be able to do really well around.

"But for some reason, the last few years, I've just struggled to make the cut.

"I feel like I've been fighting on Friday just to be around for the weekend."

Well gone was the bizarre rage he felt on course during the Farmers Insurance tournaments, the result of a reaction to medication for a misdiagnosed bed bug scare.

It caused him to become angry and agitated on the golf course and undoubtedly led to his missed cut.

Leishman suffered what doctors initially believed to be a spider bite and was prescribed an antihistamine to treat it.

He said the medication caused him to be uncharacteristically angry and frustrated on the course."It was really weird, the meds made me angry and aggro on the course, it was just terrible," Leishman said.

"I'm not an angry person at all and I was just not myself and I didn't know why but as soon as I got off the antihistamines the anger and short fuse went away."

The 32-year-old had elected to stay in the same hotel he'd used for the previous eight years, and he said that he had no idea he had been attacked by bed bugs.

"I didn't know it was bed bugs until the following week when his wife Audrey's doctor figured it out," he said.