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Australian Marc Leishman flirted with history today, firing a spectacular eight-under-par 64 to race into Open Championship contention.
The Victorian knew the major championship mark of 63 was in his sights when he canned a short birdie on the 13th — his seventh in the blemish-free round of the tournament.
By the time he nailed an eighth on the 15th, caddie Matt Kelly prodded his good mate to reach the elusive 62.
What followed were arguably his best irons and putts of the day on the tough 16th and 17th. But somehow both birdie tries stayed out when either would have left him a shot at history up the last, the easiest hole on the course.
He tried to knock his 60m approach to the final green into the lip on front and nipped it nicely, but it didn’t bounce as he’d hoped and trickled back into the Valley of Sin to consign him to a third straight par.
No fewer than 23 players have reached 63 in majors a total of 25 times, eight of those at The Open.
But while history eluded him, the chase to nab it played into his hands in the far bigger picture of this week: the chase for the Claret Jug.
“Matty actually said something to me walking down 16,” Leishman admitted afterwards.
He said, `Two more birdies and that gets you that (record)’— I knew what he was talking about.
“It was probably a good thing because 15, 16, 17, they're not easy holes, especially where the pin is on 16 and 17 today.
“Thinking about making birdies instead of thinking about trying to hold on and make pars like you normally do on those holes was a pretty good mindset, I think.”
Leishman showed no signs of what lay ahead with three pars to open his round.
But so impressive were his irons when they clicked into gear from the fourth hole that there were no putts made from outside 5m.
Birdies on the fourth and fifth were followed by four in a five-hole stretch from the seventh to spark his run.
The 31-year-old added two more on the 13th and 15th to leave himself at nine under and tied for sixth and with a legitimate shot at going at least a few better than his tie for fifth in last year’s Open at Royal Liverpool.
“I take a lot of good things from last year. I shot … 65 in the last round, and obviously Rory ran away with it, but when I needed to make birdies, I was able to make a few,” the Warrnambool ace said.
“You take some confidence away from that, hitting good shots under pressure.
“And as far as my comfort on these (British) links compared to 2010, it's probably night and day.
“I've played a few British Amateurs, did OK in one of them, but never lit it up over here.
“I felt somewhat comfortable in The Open Championships I've played, but last year to get a few runs of birdies happening and some good scores, that really gave me confidence to know that if I was to play well this week, I could contend.
“It was really pleasing to do what I did today and give myself probably a legitimate chance tomorrow.”
Naturally, Leishman answered questions thoughtfully and passionately about his wife Audrey and her recovery from what they feared to be fatal cute respiratory distress syndrome and toxic shock syndrome in March.
He has said repeatedly that his view on life has changed dramatically as a result of her brush with death.
And now, just three months later and with her against-the-odds escape progressing nicely, he’ll stand both free of fear and full of hope on the first tee of the final round of The Open.
“It was a huge possibility that I wasn't going to be playing golf anymore,” he said.
“But if I can do the right things and do things well, there's no reason why I can't have another good one tomorrow.
“It would be great to get a hold of that trophy and nice to take it back for Audrey and the boys.
“But there's obviously a lot that has to happen between now and tomorrow night to do that.
“But that would be awesome. I'm sure it would be, yeah, a pretty big party.”