Marc Leishman wins in Malaysia for his kids back home

34-year-old Aussie Marc Leishman breezes to a five-shot win at CIMB Classic in Malaysia, with his kids following him all the way back home.

It was 3 a.m. in Virginia by the time the CIMB Classic ended, but the Leishman boys weren’t going to miss it.

Harvey, 6, and four-year-old brother Ollie were still up watching as their dad, Marc Leishman, finished off a five-stroke victory halfway across the world in Malaysia for his fourth career PGA Tour win.

Moments such as this are special for the Leishman family. After all, it was just three years ago that it seemed like it would never happen again.

In March 2015, Leishman’s wife, Audrey, was diagnosed with acute respiratory distress syndrome. She was given just a five percent chance of surviving. Leishman left the PGA Tour for a month to take care of the kids, including missing the Masters.

Not only did Audrey make a full recovery, the couple even welcomed their first daughter, Eva, last year. Leishman says the ordeal only made stronger and focus on what’s really important in his life.

“A lot of things happen for a reason. I feel like that was one of them,” he said after the tournament on Sunday. “It was a very tough time that we went through three and a half years ago. But, it’s certainly made us stronger as people. Made us appreciate the everyday things. Appreciate our kids more. Made me realize that golf isn’t life or death.”

Leishman came into the final round in Kuala Lumpur in a three-way tie for the lead with Gary Woodland and Shubhankar Sharma. Despite the gallery firmly behind Sharma, the 22-year-old from India, Leishman wasted no time separating himself from the field. He birdied four holes in a row from the second to the fifth, then closed the front-nine by making a long birdie putt at the ninth. He finished with a seven-under round of 65 to get to 26-under, one shot off the tournament scoring record.

Crowd favorite Sharma could only muster an even-par round and fell into a tie for 10th place. Emiliano Grillo and Chesson Hadley both shot 66 to tie for second with Bronson Burgoon.

Leishman says he wasn’t bothered that the partisan Asian crowd was so heavily behind Sharma. “It didn’t affect me at all. I’m an Australian playing on the PGA Tour, so I’m used to not having the crowd for me,” he said. “But that’s alright.”

He had a reminder of home while dealing with the gallery and chasing a trophy to bring back to his kids. Last year his sons began writing their names on his golf bag before every tournament. Now every time he looks at his bag during a round, his mind goes back to what he’s playing for.

“They love doing it. They see it on TV. And every time I look at my golf bag I think of them doing that, or think of…my kids and that’s never a bad thing,” he said.

Knowing that his kids stayed up to watch him win, Leishman admits he has to give them a present to celebrate. “I’ll take something back for the kids,” he said.

“Not sure what it’ll be yet.”