Marc Leishman‘s bunker shot splashed out of the sand, took four quick bounces and rolled straight into the hole for birdie on the long, par-3 eighth hole at Oakmont.

Suddenly, a name that was once no stranger to leaderboards at majors was up there once again. Not bad for a player who had every reason to wonder if he’d ever get another chance to play in one, let alone contend.

The 41-year-old Australian, whose departure to LIV Golf three years ago generated few headlines but changed his life completely, shot 2-under 68 at the U.S. Open on Saturday. He made five birdies over his first 12 holes to briefly get on the leaderboard before leaving the course six shots off the lead.

“I’ve been playing some of the best golf of my career this year,” said Leishman, who is coming off his first LIV win, at Doral in April, then earned one of four spots at a U.S. Open qualifier in Maryland this month. “The schedule sort of lends itself to be able to work on your game between tournaments, and I was really able to prepare for this tournament.”

This is Leishman’s first major since the 2022 British Open. He is already exempt for this year’s British Open based on a third-place finish at the Australian Open in December.

His move to LIV, where tournaments do not qualify for points in the world ranking that help decide large chunks of the field in major events, left the six-time winner on the PGA Tour in limbo when it came to ever playing in golf’s biggest events again.

“You wonder, of course, if you’re ever going to get in,” Leishman said. “But there was certainly no regret. My life is as good as I’ve ever been right now.”

The $24.8 million Leishman has won since heading to LIV, to say nothing of the reduced schedule and the 54-hole tournaments, help explain that.

What went missing were the all-but-automatic spots in golf’s biggest tournaments that go to the PGA Tour’s top performers. Leishman played in 39 of 41 majors between 2012-22. For a time, he had a knack for getting in the mix.

His three top-10s at the British Open in the 2010s included a three-way tie for the lead after 72 holes in 2015, before losing in a playoff eventually captured by Zach Johnson. The Aussie played in the second-to-last group on Sunday at the 2013 Masters (with fellow Aussie and eventual winner Adam Scott).

“I like tough courses,” Leishman said. “I like courses that separate the field, when it really punishes bad shots and rewards good shots.”

He had his share of both on Saturday. Good: the bunker shot on 8, and a 300-yard fairway wood on the par-5 12th that set up birdie and got him to 2-over par. Bad: Three straight bogeys on 14-16, though he came back with a birdie on the drivable par-4 17th and par on No. 18.

Leishman left the course tied for 15th, six shots out of first, with the leaders still early in their rounds Saturday.

He’s well aware that a top-four finish here would add the Masters to his 2026 schedule. Either way, he is at peace with the choices he made, and where that left him — which in this case is with a late starting time in the final round of a major again.

“I really enjoyed sitting down with my kids and my mates watching the Masters and the PGA,” Leishman said of the year’s first two majors. “I’d be more happy if people were sitting down watching me.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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