Publications
Partners
St Andrews - Unheralded Australian Marc Leishman took The Open by the scruff of the neck when he grabbed a one-stroke lead midway through the final round on Monday.
The 31-year-old, who is based in the United States but has just one victory to his name on the PGA Tour, reeled off seven birdies in the first 12 holes as a spectacular burst of scoring left him on 16 under par for the championship.
American Zach Johnson (15 holes) was in second place on 15 under, one ahead of American Jordan Spieth (10), Australian Jason Day (10) and South African Louis Oosthuizen (nine).
Spieth, bidding to become the first player since compatriot Ben Hogan in 1953 to land the opening three majors of the year, seemed to be out of it after double-bogeying the eighth.
The 21-year-old screamed "Jordan, come on man" after a mis-hit tee shot at the par-three hole left him 100 feet from the flag and he eventually four-putted.
But Spieth hit back like a champion, birdying the ninth and 10th to get his title hopes back on track.
Three strokes off the lead on 13 under were Spain's Sergio Garcia (12 holes), Britain's Danny Willett (15) and American amateur Jordan Niebrugge (12).
Irish amateur Paul Dunne, who shared the overnight lead with Day and Oosthuizen, was back on 11 under.
