Laid-back Aussie pair embrace favourites tag at World Cup

MELBOURNE: Australian pair Mark Leishman (pic) and Cameron Smith are embracing the favourites tag at this week’s World Cup of Golf, insisting they are laid-back enough to deal with the pressure.

The 59th staging of the tournament at the Metropolitan Golf Club marks its third-consecutive playing in Melbourne’s famous sandbelt region, where bunkers can be cut right on the edge of a green.

Starting today, 28 teams will vie for US$7mil (RM 29 mil) in prize money over 72 holes of stroke play.

The first and third days will be fourball play and the second and final days foursomes.

World No. 21 Leishman is on home turf and he couldn’t be happier.

“It will be different, being favourites, for sure. But I think most of it is pressure you put on yourself,” said the Australian, who won the US PGA Tour-sanctioned CIMB Classic in Malaysia last month.

“We are mindful of that. We have been playing with each other’s golf balls, chipping around, thinking about what we are going to do in foursomes.

“We are laid-back enough that the pressure and expectation shouldn’t faze us.

“But it will be a new experience for us both, going in as a favourite.

“It would be nice to prove everyone right.” Australia’s top-ranked player Jason Day ruled himself out of a trip home with his wife recently giving birth in the United States, meaning Leishman became his country’s top eligible player and was able to choose his teammate.

He opted for Smith over the more seasoned Adam Scott and admits it was a tough call to make.

“It was a very hard phone call to make to Scotty, I’m great mates with (him) and Cam,” Leishman said.

“Cam pretty much made it impossible for me not to pick him when he was next in line on the rankings.”

Scott teamed with Day to win the event in 2013. Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen and Thorbjorn Olesen proved the perfect blend of flamboyant youth and wily experience to capture the 2016 edition at Kingston Heath Golf Club.

They are back to defend their title, but will have their work cut out in what could be a tough tournament in Melbourne’s fickle weather.

Rain is forecast and the winds are expected to howl.

Many of the world’s top golfers, though, have stayed away after a long and gruelling season. — AFP