Marc Leishman is about to get a taste of what his compatriot Jason Day is calling ‘Tigermania’ at Augusta National.
Leishman, the world No. 16, has been drawn to play alongside the former world No. 1 and Englishman Tommy Fleetwood for the first two rounds of the Masters tournament beginning Thursday night Australian time.
It means that he will need to deal with the hysteria surrounding Woods’ return to big-time golf at his first Masters appearance since 2015, less than a year after he had spinal fusion surgery.
Fortunately, Leishman is unfussed. He first played in the same group as Woods in 2009 in the final round of the BMW International, he played that well that day, and he tends to rise to big occasions as shown by his two wins in America last year.
“I’m pretty stress free and it won’t change my preparation because of the pairing," Leishman told media at Augusta National today. "Any time you get a pairing like that, I guess is a compliment. I’ll take that as a compliment from Augusta National. I’m excited about it.
"It’s a big stage, the biggest stage. It would be nice if I can get out there and play well and show everyone what I can do."
The man from Warrnambool on Victoria’s west coast said his only issue had been to explain to his eldest son Harvey why Woods was so famous, bearing in mind that the last of his major wins was almost 10 years ago.
"My son Harvey has only just learnt about [Tiger]," Leishman said. "'How many trophies has he won, daddy?’ ‘Seventy eight.’
"'How many have you won?' 'Three’."
Jason Day is playing with Henrik Stenson and Bubba Watson in a big-hitting group from 11.04am Thursday at Augusta. Adam Scott is grouped with Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm in a late group while Cameron Smith is playing with Billy Horschel and Chez Reavie.
ROUND ONE TEE TIMES (SUBTRACT 10 HOURS FOR AUSTRALIAN EASTERN)
8:30 a.m (10.30pm Thursday AEST). – Austin Cook, Ted Potter, Jr., Wesley Bryan
8:41 a.m. – Ian Woosnam, Ryan Moore Jhonattan Vegas
8:52 a.m. – Mike Weir, Brendan Steele, *Matt Parziale
9:03 a.m. – Jose Maria Olazabal, Kevin Chappell, Dylan Frittelli
9:14 a.m. – Bryson DeChambeau, Bernd Wiesberger, Matthew Fitzpatrick
9:25 a.m. – Mark O'Meara, Brian Harman, *Harry Ellis
9:36 a.m. – Vijay Singh, Satoshi Kodaira, Daniel Berger
9:47 a.m. – Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Pat Perez, Francesco Molinari
9:58 a.m. – Danny Willett, Kyle Stanley, Jason Dufner
10:09 a.m. – Hideki Matsuyama, Patton Kizzire, Paul Casey
10:31 a.m. – Zach Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Branden Grace
10:42 a.m. – Tiger Woods, Marc Leishman, Tommy Fleetwood (12:42am Friday AEST)
10:53 a.m. – Sergio Garcia, Justin Thomas, *Doc Redman
11:04 a.m. – Bubba Watson, Henrik Stenson, Jason Day (1:04am Friday AEST)
11:15 a.m. – Patrick Reed, Charley Hoffman, Adam Hadwin
11:26 a.m. – Billy Horschel, Chez Reavie, Cameron Smith (1:26am Friday AEST)
11:37 a.m. – Sandy Lyle, Si Woo Kim, *Doug Ghim
11:48 a.m. – Trevor Immelman, Ian Poulter, Patrick Cantlay
11:59 a.m. – Angel Cabrera, Ross Fisher, Jimmy Walker
12:10 p.m. – Fred Couples, Hao Tong Li, *Joaquin Niemann
12:32 p.m. – Larry Mize, Russell Henley, Shubhankar Sharma
12:43 p.m. – Bernhard Langer, Tony Finau, Yuta Ikeda
12:54 p.m. – Charl Schwartzel, Webb Simpson, *Yuxin Lin
1:05 p.m. – Kevin Kisner, Thomas Pieters, Xander Schauffele
1:16 p.m. – Gary Woodland, Yusaku Miyazato, Tyrrell Hatton
1:27 p.m. – Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar
1:38 p.m. – Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm
1:49 p.m. – Jordan Spieth, Alex Noren, Louis Oosthuizen
2:00 p.m. – Justin Rose, Dustin Johnson, Rafael Cabrera-Bello