No traffic in San Francisco and no fans at a major championship. Marc Leishman admits the 2020 US PGA championship will be "weird" but says his hunger to break through the major championship barrier is still as strong.
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Despite struggling without crowds at US PGA Tour events since the circuit resumed from a 90-day suspension, Leishman is in the middle of a great season.
He won the US PGA Tour's Farmers Insurance Open in January and finished second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March.
The world No.19 is determined to take the next step by winning a maiden major title and feels San Francisco's TPC Harding Park is where he could pull it off.
"San Francisco is such a cool city and it's going to be very different because it's pretty much in lockdown; there will be no traffic, which will be weird," Leishman told AAP.
"Playing a major with no atmosphere will be another challenge in itself, but I'm ready to embrace that and hopefully I can get it done."
The five-time US PGA Tour winner will be joined this week by countrymen Adam Scott, 2015 champion Jason Day, Cameron Smith, Matt Jones and Lucas Herbert.
Leishman is looking at the bright side of an unprecedented fan-less major; there will be no relief for wayward drives in Harding Park's thick rough.
"Normally, if you hit it outside the ropes you can catch a good lie because the crowds trample down the rough, so you'll have to be driving it really straight," he said.
Leishman's best finish at a major is a tie for second when he lost in a playoff at the 2015 British Open at St Andrews.
But his record at the PGA Championship - regarded as the major fit for long, straight hitters - has only amounted to a tie for 12th at the 2013 edition.
But TPC Harding Park, a San Francisco public course, has plenty of dog-leg holes and overhanging trees that require golfers to shape the ball both ways.
The 36-year-old Warrnambool native feels comfortable doing that and is why he made the elimination rounds of the 2015 World Golf Championships-Match Play event there.
"As far as the PGA goes, this probably my best opportunity to win one because generally the event doesn't set up great for me. But Harding Park should be a different story," he said.
As for winning a maiden major with no galleries, it won't bother Leishman.
"You wouldn't want to win your first one without crowds if you had the choice, but I'll take it any way I can get it," he said.
Australian Associated Press
