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<\/a><\/p>\nHe\u2019s tied for 22nd place, 10 shots adrift of unbackable leader Scottie Scheffler, with even Leishman accepting that being so far behind the world No.1 makes the idea of him winning the Jug a decade after he finished runner-up in a playoff at St Andrews seem wholly unfeasible.<\/p>\n
But he\u2019s only six shots behind the best of the rest, Li Haotong, and has eyes on a top-four finish which would guarantee him a return to both next year\u2019s Masters, after a three-year absence, and a place at the 2026 Royal Birkdale Open.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously there\u2019s the carrot dangling to try to get into the top-four,\u201d Leishman mused.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, you want to do something silly and try to go crazy low, but you also want to make sure you give yourself a chance to get into the other majors.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably more so looking at that. I\u2019m nine back at the moment, probably going to be more than 10 back at the end of the day the way he (Scheffler) is playing,\u201d added Leishman when he finished, while the world No.1 was still strutting his stuff out on course.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat will be too many shots, unless I do something really, really silly. He\u2019s probably going to get to 20-under! I\u2019m not going to shoot 56.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Marc](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1ec1d9bbd9dfca824d7cfa115e67433a937a953f.jpg\")
Marc Leishman has kept the Australian flag flying in the British Open third round at Royal Portrush. Credit: AAP<\/p>\n
The LIV Golf star, in fine form after winning his maiden event on the Saudi-run circuit at Trump National Doral in Miami in April, smiled: \u201cHopefully I can do something silly tomorrow and try to sneak into that top five or 10.\u201d<\/p>\n
He hasn\u2019t played in any of the last 10 majors since his move to LIV but still didn\u2019t feel the pressure of being the only Aussie on view.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a while, but something you can slide back into pretty easily. It\u2019s what we want to do, play majors, win majors. I\u2019ve not been in them for a while, but happy to be back,\u201d said the man who\u2019s enjoyed three top-10 finishes at the British Open.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, starting at one under, he made a woeful start when three putts from 40ft at the first led to an immediate bogey, but he responded swiftly with a brilliant tee shot to within two foot of the pin at the short third and then sank a 12-footer for another birdie at the fifth.<\/p>\n
A delightful approach to four foot at the 11th provided further encouragement and though finding the fairway bunker at the long 12th led to a bogey six, he again bounced back, this time in spectacular fashion at the short 13th when he holed a 34ft birdie putt.<\/p>\n
His third birdie two of the round came at the 16th when he holed from the fringe of the green.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt really good today actually. If I\u2019d played the par-fives better, I could have had a really low one, but played them at one-over. Hopefully I\u2019ll save it all for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the key ingredient for success? \u201cYeah, probably another Guinness for sure,\u201d smiled Leishman after a quick check of the watch.<\/p>\n
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