Australia’s Marc Leishman and Adam Scott remain upbeat about their chances of winning the World Cup of Golf despite a shaky opening round at Kingston Heath.
The pair ground out a two over par 74 to sit in a tie for 14th place, five shots behind leaders Spain, after the day one foursomes.
Some loose shots on the front nine par-3s – the 2nd and 6th holes – both resulted in bogies. The Aussies didn’t register a birdie until the 15th hole when Scott rolled in a putt from eight feet. Unfortunately, they handed that shot back at the final hole when Scott’s drive finished in a deep fairway bunker left and Leishman’s approach rolled over the back of the green. Scott’s putt from the bottom of the slope left Leishman a five-footer for par, which slipped by the edge of the cup.
The two might be sitting back in the pack but they aren’t concerned about being among the chasers trying to make up ground in the second round fourball.
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“Obviously a bit disappointing,” Leishman said. “It was tough conditions and definitely not what we wanted for the first round.
“We shot a couple over par on a course that can light you up if you play bad.
“We’ve definitely got a lot of golf to play and certainly worse things have happened than this … still got our health.
“Bodies are feeling good and let’s go out tomorrow and have a good one, eh, Scotty?”
Scott smiled.
Both players had their share of miscues during the round, which could easily have been at least four shots better. Scott seemed out of sorts with some of his club selections in the gusting wind, while Leishman missed two makeable close range putts. Less than ideal shots did result in a little friendly banter between the pair.
“Yeah, had a couple of little looks over when I’m flying them over a couple of greens,” Scott laughed. “I think the third one he was pretty much over it.
“It is pretty funny when you have to sit there and you can’t control what’s going to happen for where you hit the next from. So…yeah a few cheeky looks at each other.
“We just have to stay patient, nothing really went our way. Hopefully it does tomorrow.”
The one positive Leishman was taking out of the first round was he didn’t swallow one of the trillion flies that are currently calling Kingston Heath home.
“(The flies) … oh, they’re awesome,” Leishman laughed. “I didn’t get any in the mouth or in the nose or ears, so I’ll take that as a positive out of today.”
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