The fall Tour’s breakout stars
By Bill Felber
7. Marc Leishman
At age 38 and with 13 PGA Tour seasons to his credit, Leishman is easily the most veteran player on this list. As an established Tour presence with six career wins and an Olympic appearance, his most meaningful goal would be to finally bag a Major title.
His start to 2021-22 suggests he may finally be poised to make a run at that distinction.
Leishman only started four fall Tour events, but three of them ended in top 20s, two in top fives. His season began with a tie for fourth at the season-opening Fortinet, followed a few weeks later by a tie for third at the Shriners.
Since then Leishman has tied for 38th at the CJ Cup and for 19th at Houston. The average standard deviation of his four finishes is -0.98, a level of excellence predictive of a top 10 finish. And that means contention.
Driving has been the principal element holding Leishman back. He hasn’t had a positive season for Strokes Gained Off The Tee since 2017, including last year’s -0.165. So it is potentially very good news for Leishman fans that he concludes the fall swing ranked 25th on Tour in Strokes Gained Off the Tee with a score of +.803. That’s nearly a full stroke difference in that one skill area alone.
Given the importance of the driving game in modern golf, Leishman’s scoring average has fallen. From 71.303 in 2020-21, he’s down to 69.51 – that’s top 10 level – to date this season.
Winning a Major is hard. But Leishman is improving in all the right areas.