MEMPHIS – Australian golfer Marc Leishman shot a 5-under 65 at TPC Southwind in the first round of the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational on Thursday, three shots off the lead. But, that wasn’t the best part of his week so far.
On Monday night, Leishman was reunited with his parents, Paul and Pelita, for the first time in 18 months. The family had been apart due to the pandemic and lockdowns in Australia.
Leishman’s parents were able to surprise their son when his plane from Japan landed early enough for their paths to cross at the Memphis airport.
Reunited after 18 months.
@MarcLeish’s parents were able to leave Australia and visit their son and grandchildren this week in Memphis. pic.twitter.com/uYVtOb0G1k
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 5, 2021
While Leishman was competing at the Tokyo Olympics last week, his parents flew to Virginia Beach, Virginia (his hometown), to see their grandchildren and daughter-in-law before they all made the trip to Memphis for the tournament.
To get to the United States, the family had to submit many written appeals to the Australian government because of border closures.
“We had to write letters to the Australian government for them to be allowed out of the country,” Leishman said in a PGA Tour article. “I wrote one, Mom and Dad wrote one, different people from different fields write them. We had the PGA Tour write one. There were letters coming from everybody.”
Claire Kuwana is a sports reporting intern at the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Contact her at claire.kuwana@commercialappeal.com or follow her on Twitter @clairekuwana.