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The pride and pain in equal parts were etched in Marc Leishman’s face.
The Victorian was stoic after coming within centimetres of winning the Open Championship today, eventually joining South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen as victims of American Zach Johnson in a four-hole playoff at the Old Course.
Leishman, 31, narrowly missed a 6-metre putt on the final hole of regulation that would have etched his name on the famous Claret Jug.
But from the moment his opening playoff drive found a divot and limited his options, his chances were effectively dashed.
Leishman, of Warrnambool, equalled the greatest closing 36 holes in Open Championship history, his rounds of 64-66 also smashing the best at the Old Course by three strokes.
But even those glorious figures couldn’t win the ultimate prize in golf – the tie for second his best major championship finish and a result that lifted him to a career-high world ranking of 27.
“It was a big week. Obviously pretty disappointed at the minute, having a chance to win it and not being able to take it, but that's golf, unfortunately,” said Leishman, who pocketed a cool 536,500 pounds.
“There were three of us in the playoff and there could only be one winner. (So) I'm disappointed, but I'm happy with the way I played all week.
“I played great Thursday, Friday in the wind and then played good the last two days in the better conditions.
“I gave it my best shot. Zach just played really well in the playoff, and I didn't have my best stuff there.”
Johnson, 39, won his second major championship after the 2007 Masters by playing the four-hole shootout in one under, beating Oosthuizen by a shot and Leishman by three after the Australian bogeyed the first and 17th (third in the playoff) holes.
“I drove it straight into a divot (up the first), which was pretty disappointing, especially to that pin with the burn right in front I had no chance of getting near it,” he lamented.
“That's about as good as I could have done, and then three-putted it.
“Then obviously the three-putt on 17 was not what I was after, but I was on the back foot as soon as I hit it in that divot and made the (bogey) five on the first.”
But with his wife Audrey recently surviving a near fatal illness, his new-found perspective – and priorities – quickly shone through again.
“Mate, I'm happy. Don't worry about that. I've just finished second in The Open,” he beamed proudly.
“Yeah, I could have won it, but … my perspective is a lot — well, it's quite good at the moment.
“I can go home tomorrow and hug Audrey and the boys and celebrate a little bit.
“It would have been nice to have a Claret Jug to drink out of to celebrate, but I'll find something else,” he said with trademark cheeky grin.
Leishman was nothing short of spectacular today.
His front-nine 31 in the third-last pairing out was good enough to chase and pass Johnson four groups ahead on the course on a day during which eight different players held or shared the lead.
When the American bogeyed the 17th, Leishman momentarily held a two-shot buffer after a fighting par on the 15th.
Leishman said he was “pretty disappointed” with his bogey on the 16th after a magnificent greenside trap shot set up a par putt that shaved the cup.
By the time he stood on the 17th tee, the roars from Johnson’s birdie on the 18th had again squared the tournament and gave Leishman a clear mission.
“It was really important for me to par 17 and then gave myself a good shot on 18, too.
“I just misread the putt. I hit a good putt and it didn't break. But yeah, I knew — I watched the leaderboards, and I knew that that putt on 18 was a pretty important one.”
Leishman said he wouldn’t look back and rue much, but his miss on the 16th proved pivotal.
“I did a lot of good stuff, and actually didn't hit that bad a putt on 16, it just didn't do what I thought it was going to.
“But obviously that was pretty disappointing because it was only about 4-5 feet. I hit a really good bunker shot and didn't finish it off.
“But I holed a lot of good putts. I holed a really good putt on 15 for par and a good putt on 14 for par, a lot of good stuff.
“I'm not going to look back and be sour about anything. I've had a good week. I'm disappointed, but it's golf.”
Leishman said his performance, particularly his closing rounds, would give him great confidence.
“Any time you can shoot in the 60s over the weekend of any tournament, I think it's pretty good.
“But to do it in a major … I was happy with that.
“Hopefully I'll have a chance to outdo that and do better some day.
“It would be nice to shoot those numbers and win and have some great memories.
“I've got some really good memories from this week. It would have been obviously a lot better if I could have won, but still have a lot of great memories, and it's been a good week.”
Leishman, who now has three top-five finishes in major championships, including a fifth at Royal Liverpool in last year’s Open, said this was as well as he’d ever played.
“It probably is, to be honest. I've never really put four really good rounds together like that.
“Even on Friday, that (73) was in really, really tough conditions and that one-over was actually probably as good as the first-round score in the wind of two under.
“I've probably putted better, I've probably driven it better, I've hit my irons better, but put all together, that's probably the best week that I've had.”
In the 27 holes from the fourth hole in the third round, Leishman remarkably shot 15 under to blaze through the field.
But he said being on top from the 12th today “didn't really change anything”.
“I still knew that I had to play really good coming in because they were hard holes.
“But it was great to look up on the leaderboard and see your name on top.
“It would have been better if it was on top up there now, but not to be.”
Leishman was visibly moved when speaking about all the support he’d received from around Australia, particularly in Victoria’s Western District.
“It's great to get support like that. It's just great to know that people follow you and … they've got an interest and I can make things exciting for them,” he said.
“They would have been up at 2am or 3am watching golf on TV when they probably wouldn't have been watching golf if they didn't have some sort of connection to me.
“It's good to know that I can do that.”
The win added Johnson’s name to two pretty special lists, in addition to qualifying for a future Hall of Fame induction.
Johnson joins Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy as the only players to have won at least two major championships and 10 US PGA Tour events in the past decade.
Even more remarkably, he joins Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros and Sam Snead as the only men to have won at both Augusta National and The Open at the Old Course.
But that’s cold comfort for Aussie golf fans who’ll rue that he consigned Leishman’s name to a far less pleasant list.
Since Peter Thomson’s playoff win against Dave Thomas in 1958, Jack Newton (1975), Wayne Grady and Greg Norman (1989), Steve Elkington and Stuart Appleby (2002) and now Leishman have fallen at extra holes.
Adam Scott’s name is already etched in Open folklore for the wrong reasons having led three times in the final round, including his famous 2012 meltdown at Lytham and St Annes.
But Day now also goes on a list that includes Mat Goggin (2009), Greg Norman (2008), Craig Parry (1999), Steve Elkington (1995), Roger Davis (1987) and David Graham (1985) as players in the modern era to have had winning chances only to have fallen just shy of the Claret Jug.