Pro agitated by Open Championship ‘12 hour’ round, compares it to LIV

Marc Leishman says he woke up at 8 a.m. Thursday morning. Then he watched an hour of TV coverage of the Open Championship. 

Then he said he felt like he was on the course at Royal Portrush for half a day. 

Which, Leishman said, was about three times longer than the rounds he plays on LIV Golf. 

His comments came after he shot a two-over 73 during his first round, where slow play had been a topic, including when, according to a report on the USA Network broadcast, J.J. Spaun received a “bad time” warning after his group was put on the clock. In a post-round interview with reporters, Leishman said he felt the pace — and compared it to LIV. 

“Felt like we were on the golf course for about 12 hours,” Leishman said. “We’ve been on the course for three hours through eight holes. That was tough to deal with, especially coming from somewhere where we play in under four-and-a-half every week.

“You got to deal with all that sort of stuff, and I felt like I dealt with it decently well. Just got a little frustrated there. I thought I was playing really good and not getting anything out of it, but the conditions were tough. Hopefully just get a good one going in the morning.”

Was Leishman given any reason for the hold-up?

“No,” he said, “just everyone takes their time.”

Also frustrating, he said, were good shots that weren’t capitalized on, and a three-putt bogey on 18.  

“I felt like I had some good — hit some decent tee shots and then couldn’t really get it close,” Leishman said. “It was really hard to get it close. A few shots, you felt like you wanted to run off of those bunkers there, and you couldn’t.

“I found that a little difficult, but it was the same for everyone. Definitely hard to get momentum. Sort of had a couple of birdies there on, what was that, 14, 15. Good par on 16. Unfortunately, like I said, pi**ed off at that on the last. That’s golf.”

Still, at two-over, Leishman’s not far from the leaders. And he won’t be bothered by slow play on Friday. 

At 6:35 a.m. local time on Friday, his group tees off first.