MARC LEISHMAN: I got off to a really good start ball-striking-wise. I hit it to about eight feet on the first and left it short, adjusted on 2 and 3, and then had short birdie putts on the first maybe five or six holes. Scrambled pretty well, but yeah, obviously a little disappointing about the three bogeys in a row, but you don't have to do much wrong on this golf course to make bogeys.
I didn't let it get me down too much. Nice to fight back with a birdie on 17 and then obviously a nice up-and-down there on 18 to finish the day.
Q. We talked early on in the week and you seemed to feel pretty good about the way you're playing and your approach here.
MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, I've been playing probably some of my best golf of my career this year. I think the schedule sort of lends itself to be able to work on your game between tournaments, and I was able to really prepare for this tournament.
Just happy to make the most of qualifying. Sometimes you can get in and you think it's a done deal and away you go. But really wanted to make the most of getting in and doing that hard work, so hopefully a good round tomorrow will do that. Hopefully I can get off to a start like I did today and give them something to look at, the leaders.
Like I said, my game has been feeling good. My head is in a good spot, as well. Life is just go at the moment.
Q. How does it feel to kind of not only just be back in a major but kind of be in the mix, your name up on the leaderboard for a bit? Good, bad, different feeling?
MARC LEISHMAN: No, it feels great. There's nothing bad about contending in a major. It has been a while, but like I said, I've been playing some really good golf.
We play against really, really strong fields every single week on LIV, and I think doing that has made me work harder not only on my golf game but my body and my head, and that lends itself to more family life, too. Like I said, life is in a good spot at the moment for me. I'm very happy and happy to be contending at a U.S. Open. Hopefully I can be not too far back tomorrow and see how we go.
Q. Does anything about today surprise you as far as the playability after all that rain? Anything jump out?
MARC LEISHMAN: Not really. There were some tough pins which I probably expected with how soft it was going to be. 10 was a pretty good one. You've just got to miss it in the right spot around here. It's a lot like Augusta in that respect. It's very obvious where you can and can't hit it, and I like that about golf courses where it really rewards good shots and punishes bad shots when you miss it in the wrong spot.
Q. Good to see Adam up there?
MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, he looks like he's playing good. I played a practice round with him on Wednesday, and he was striking the ball well, so it doesn't surprise me at all to see him up there.
Q. Was he an inspiration to you when you were growing up?
MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, I think he's three or four years older than me. Obviously I carried the board for him at the Australian Open the one year, the scoreboard, so yeah, he was someone I --
Q. Did he give you a ball?
MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, it was when the Pro V1 first came out, he gave me a couple of those.
Yeah, it's obviously great to have someone like him to look up to and call a mate, and hopefully we can --
Q. When you said he was playing well on Wednesday --
MARC LEISHMAN: Well, he always drives it well and his iron play is always pretty solid. He was putting very well. He was reading the greens well and making the four-, five-, six-footers in the middle. That's what you have to do around here.
Q. You had a top-20 here nine years ago, obviously won on the Blue Monster earlier this year. You really seem to embrace the challenge of a really tough course.
MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, I like tough courses. I just like golf courses where it separates the field, when it really punishes bad shots but still rewards good shots. I feel like Doral does that. You can have a big number around there very quickly, just like around here you can -- like I showed yesterday the first nine holes, you can get it going the wrong way very quickly. I just like that it still rewards good shots. I think this place when it's a little softer like it is at the moment, it does reward good shots, but still really punishes bad shots. I think that's the sign of a really good golf course.
Q. Can you talk about the chip at 8?
MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, I actually hit a good tee shot. I hit 4-iron, just turned it a bit too much. I was between 4-iron and 7-wood. Got in the bunker with my sand wedge actually, my 55, and there wasn't too much sand in there so I went back and got my lob wedge and it came out pretty nice and hit the pin and dropped in. It was a nice little bit of revenge after hitting it to 12 feet there yesterday and three-putting it.
Yeah, was happy to be able to write a 2 on the card there and walk to the 9th tee.
Q. Do you remember the first time you played with Adam?
MARC LEISHMAN: I don't, no. It would have been 2010 or '11 probably, maybe '9, somewhere around there.
Q. Where?
MARC LEISHMAN: I have no idea. I'm not sure.
Q. In the couple of years between majors, did you ever -- I don't know if a word would be wonder or worry, if you would get back to one of these things?
MARC LEISHMAN: Well, you never know anything. Life is pretty uncertain at times. Obviously I want to be here. These are the biggest tests in golf. I knew that was going to be a chance when I signed with LIV. I knew that could have been one of the negatives. But the positives so much outweighed the negatives for me.
You've just got to play good in the qualifiers and hopefully make the most of it. If I have a good day tomorrow, I can hopefully finish top 4 and get into all of them next year.
So yeah, you wonder, of course, if you're going to get into them again, but there is certainly no regret because, like I said, my life is as good as it's ever been right now. I'm as happy as I've ever been.
Of course I would rather be playing the majors, but I really enjoyed just sitting down with my kids and mates watching the Masters and the PGA. I'm a lot happier if people were to be sitting down watching me, but it was a pretty good two weeks for me.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports