A breakthrough victory by Junseok Lee at the Kolon 63rd Korea Open – the richest event on the Korean PGA Tour – was the standout performance by an Australian this week but the attention was focused intently on TPC River Highlands and a host of Aussies in contention.

Battling a back injury and hay fever, Day held the 36-hole lead at the Travelers Championship as he sought to end a three-year winless streak and started the final round in a share of third one stroke back.

A second consecutive round of even-par 70 would see Day fall into a tie for 10th as Leishman rose from the pack with a final round of 6-under 64.

Tied for 17th at the start of the final round, Leishman made birdie at one, four six and nine to charge up the leaderboard and was well and truly in the hunt after birdies at 13 and 15.

Knowing that 12-under might not be enough, Leishman took an aggressive line with his approach shot at the 72nd hole and found the greenside bunker, recalling Jordan Spieth’s 2017 playoff heroics as he sought one final birdie.

“Definitely thought about Spieth there,” Leishman said, Spieth holing out from the same bunker to win in spectacular fashion four years ago.

“I said to Matty (Kelly, Leishman’s caddie), it’s probably the most makeable bunker shot I’ve had in five years.

“If all I do is get it out of the bunker there was a little downslope and then back up to the hole, so I was thinking about making it.

“Thought I had made it there for a little bit.”

Junseok Lee (pictured) won the Korea Open on the KPGA Tour. Lintao Zhang/Getty Images.

The 2012 Travelers Championship was Leishman’s first on the PGA TOUR. He came storming home from six strokes back in the final round and was trying to channel that performance again nine years later.

“It's just a hard place to lead at because it's that sort of golf course where there is trouble everywhere,” Leishman added.

“That's kind of an interesting thing about this course. One, two, three, six and seven are all birdie holes, so if you get out two, three hours before the leaders you can get ahead of them early and put a little bit pressure on them, make them have to push.

“Every time I've seemed to have played well here I've come from behind. I guess you play a lot freer when you're behind.

“It's nice to be able to do that and have a little less pressure.”

Like Leishman, Adam Scott (67) made a significant move up the leaderboard in the final round to finish tied for 13th – equal to his best result since January – and Lucas Herbert (69) took advantage of his effort to Monday qualify to finish tied for 19th.

A double-bogey at the par-3 eighth and a triple at the par-4 12th brought Cameron Smith’s hopes undone as he fell from a share of third to a tie for 30th with a Sunday 74, Matt Jones (73) and Cameron Percy (70) also playing all four rounds.

Elsewhere this week Grace Kim continued her impressive progression towards a professional career by finishing tied for 10th in her maiden start on the Symetra Tour as rookie Gabi Ruffels finished as the best of the Aussies at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

PGA Tour
Travelers Championship
TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Connecticut
Winner Harris English                      67-68-67-65—267             $US1.332m
3              Marc Leishman                69-66-69-64—268             $510,600
T10         Jason Day                         69-62-70-70—271             $186,850
T13         Adam Scott                        69-69-67-67—272             $132,583
T19         Lucas Herbert                    70-67-67-69—273             $87,690
T30         Cameron Smith                  67-68-66-74—275             $45,325
T36         Matt Jones                         70-66-67-73—276             $30,743
T54         Cameron Percy                  70-66-72-70—278             $17,094
MC         Danny Lee                          71-69—140
 
KPGA Tour
Kolon 63rd Korea Open
Woo Jeong Hills Country Club, Cheonan, Korea
Winner Junseok Lee       66-69-70-71—276             KRW400m
T56         Kevin Chun      74-69-74-79—296             KRW5m
MC         Wonjoon Lee     80-74—154
 
LPGA Tour
KPMG Women’s PGA Championship
Atlanta Athletic Club, John’s Creek, Georgia
Winner Nelly Korda             70-63-68-68—269             $US675,000
T33         Gabriela Ruffels   76-65-72-75—288             $28,229
T40         Minjee Lee            73-72-74-70—289             $21,587
T52         Lydia Ko               72-72-74-73—291             $14,442
63           Su Oh                   73-72-75-74—294             $10,775
MC         Sarah Kemp         78-69—147
MC         Katherine Kirk      78-70—148
MC         Hannah Green     72-76—148
 
European Tour
BMW International Open
Golfclub München Eichenried, Munich, Germany
Winner Viktor Hovland                        68-67-64-70—269             €229,650
T14         Ryan Fox                             70-72-66-69—277             €21,175
T26         Scott Hend                           73-68-72-66—279             €14,584
T29         Josh Geary                          69-71-71-69—280             €12,365
T42         Min Woo Lee                       66-73-69-74—282             €7,994
T55         Wade Ormsby                      65-75-75-69—284             €5,438
T60         Maverick Antcliff                  70-69-73-73—285             €4,967
MC         Dimitrios Papadatos             67-77—144
MC         Deyen Lawson                     75-72—147
MC         Jake McLeod                       74-77—151
MC         Elvis Smylie                         76-75—151
 
Japan Golf Tour
Dunlop SRIXON Fukushima Open
Grandee Nasushirakawa Golf Club, Fukushima
Winner Ryosuke Kinoshita           70-66-65-62—263             ¥10,000,000
T37         Scott Strange                71-68-69-67—275             ¥245,000
T41         Andrew Evans               64-71-73-68—276             ¥200,000
 
Korn Ferry Tour
Live and Work in Maine Open
Falmouth Country Club, Falmouth, Maine
Winner Chad Ramey                       67-65-68-68—268             $US108,000
T30         Jamie Arnold                     67-70-69-73—279             $3,638
T41         Nick Voke                         71-69-74-66—280             $2,910
MC         Mark Hensby                     71-70—141
MC         Brett Drewitt                      72-73—145
MC         Harrison Endycott             75-71—146
 
Challenge Tour
Open de Bretagne
Golf Bluegreen de Pléneuf Val André, Pleneuf, France
Winner Julien Brun          64-68-66-69—267             €32,000
T23         Daniel Hillier     66-69-70-72—277             €1,820
 
Ladies European Tour
Tipsport Czech Ladies Open
Golf Club Beroun, Beroun, Czech Republic
Winner Atthaya Thitikul                  68-68-65—201   €30,000
T11         Stephanie Kyriacou         70-69-68—207   €3,916
MC         Whitney Hillier                  72-73—145
MC         Amy Walsh                       79-81—160
 
Symetra Tour
Prasco Charity Championship
TPC River’s Bend, Cincinnati, Ohio
Winner Meghan MacLaren          68-70-69—207   $US26,250
T10         Grace Kim (a)               68-72-71—211   -----
T47         Soo Jin Lee                  68-76-77—221   $881
MC         Stephanie Na                74-75—149
MC         Julienne Soo                 69-80—149
MC         Hira Naveed                  71-79—150
MC         Robyn Choi                   78-76—154
MC         Julianne Alvarez             83-77—160
 
Champions Tour
Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship
Firestone CC (South Course), Akron, Ohio
Winner Steve Stricker                    63-68-72-70—273
T7           Rod Pampling                 70-75-69-70—284
T42         John Senden                  74-74-74-71—293
T52         David McKenzie             73-74-74-75—296
T52         Stephen Leaney             70-72-76-78—296