Marc Leishman eyeing The Masters success after working to fix technical issues with coach Denis McDade

The Warrnambool-raised golfer flew Melbourne-based coach Denis McDade to the United States and is fine-tuning his game ahead of the prestigious tournament.

Leishman said the in-person coaching helped to address issues which had plagued his form since the PGA Tour restart in June.

Leishman, 37, started the year with a Farmers Insurance Open victory but has missed the cut five times since golf resumed from its coronavirus-forced hiatus.

"My swing was actually fine," he told The Standard.

"The issues were coming up mostly before I actually hit the shot. The way I was getting into the shot was getting me in a bad position at set-up. We worked on that.

"I'm going to have to drive the ball well. My irons are usually pretty good anyway and you just have to make putts. At Augusta, you have to do everything well."

Leishman revealed McDade arrived prior to ZOZO Championship in October after gaining a travel exemption.

"He wasn't allowed to travel. We had to write a letter to the Australian government for him to be allowed out of the country," he said.

"The results spoke for themselves as to why he was let out. The government was awesome, they got back to us within 12 hours or something. It was amazing of them to do that."

Leishman said the US Masters was among his favourite events on the PGA Tour calendar.

He said Augusta's punishing nature made a challenging course to conquer.

"The Masters and the British Open are my two favourite events, as far as majors go," Leishman said.

"It's a fun week, but it's a challenging week and you've got to embrace that challenge and make sure your game is as good as it can be.

"More importantly, you have to make sure you're mentally there. Even if your game is good, but you're mentally not quite there, you have no chance.

"This past week was a matter of balancing the golf stuff and making sure I'm fresh mentally to go to Augusta and be ready to handle all the challenges it'll throw at us."

Leishman admitted his confidence hadn't been a strong point through the coronavirus-interrupted season, but felt it was turning a corner.

The father-of-three will vie to beat reigning champion Tiger Woods and favourite Bryson DeChambeau.

"If your game is a bit off, you can be made to look really bad, even though it may not be as bad as you think it is," he said. "Confidence is a big thing in golf and my confidence hasn't been high but I'm certainly feeling better now than what I was a month ago.

"I wouldn't be the first person to win a tournament after having a rough few months on the course and hopefully I can do that and this time next week have a green jacket on my back."

The Masters starts on Thursday night Australian time.

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