Marc Leishman wins Farmers Insurance Open

Marc Leishman earns fifth PGA Tour win at Farmers Insurance Open

Marc Leishman made it an Australia Day double on the European and PGA Tour’s as he powered to a one-stroke victory at the Farmers Insurance Open on 15-under-par.

With a final round round seven under 65, Leishman made the most of early stutters from Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy as he came from four behind to win with the joint best round of the day – despite hitting just three fairways. 

“I saw that the guys out front didn’t get off to the best start and then that really got my determination up,” said Leishman.

“I’ve led here early in the last round maybe once or twice and let it slip. I was very determined to not let that happen again.

“I didn’t really ever imagine I would be a five‑time TOUR winner, to be honest. As a kid you don’t expect this. You dream to be on the PGA TOUR one day and all of a sudden to have five victories, it’s a great feeling.

“So I feel lucky. This is a pretty sweet victory just because I’ve come close here a few times. From my first year on TOUR I felt like this is a place I could win at and then to finally do it my 12th year on TOUR is really satisfying.”

Leishman started the day four strokes behind Rahm after 54 holes, but as the Spaniard posted two bogeys and a double-bogey over his first five holes, it was the Australian who quickly found himself at the top of the leaderboard thanks to five birdies in his first eight holes. 

And while McIlroy also faltered over the opening stretch, the 36 year old remained composed, with a recovery from McIlroy and a charge from Brandt Snedeker the only real challenges as they got to within two. 

There was some late drama though as Rahm began to recover in spectacular fashion, making an eagle at the 13th and adding a birdie at the 14th to get back to level par for the day. 

He instantly gave one of those strokes back at the next, but made birdie putts at both 16 and 17 to find himself within one of Leishman’s lead after the Australian made his first mistake of the day at the penultimate hole.

Up ahead, Rahm’s chances were to be short-lived, as Leishman all but guaranteed his victory with a final-hole birdie, laying up of the par-five in two and getting up and down to move to 15-under. 

Needing an eagle to force a play-off, Rahm found the back of the 18th in two, but his attempt came up a couple of rolls shy, leaving him with a final-hole birdie and a two-under par 70, one shot short of Leishman’s total. 

McIlroy finished two shots further back on 12-under with Brandt Snedeker, with Tom Hoge in fifth on -11 and Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed and Tony Finau sharing sixth place on -10.