Top seeds Marc Leishman and Jason Day are itching to tee off at the World Golf Championships-Match Play having polished their games at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Courtesy of their world rankings, Day and Leishman are top-16 seeds and will be the best-ranked player in each of their four-man groups at the 64-man event in Austin, Texas this week.
The 2017 Palmer winner, Leishman signed off on his title defence with a final round of five-under-par 67 on Sunday to finish at eight under the card and in a share of seventh.
World No.16 Leishman finished 10 shots back of winner Rory McIlroy, whose stunning 64 earned an 18 under total and a three-shot win over Bryson DeChambeau (68).
But it was a eureka moment Leishman had on the greens during the last day at Florida's famed Bay Hill course which has the 34-year-old confident of bagging a maiden WGC title.
"I worked something out with my putting on sixth hole; I realised the putter face was closed (pointing left) and that's why I hadn't made any putts this week," Leishman said.
"I turned a negative into a positive, started making some putts and now I'm really excited to get to the match play.
"I'm really happy with the way I finished; playing well on a tough golf course in the final round is inspiring."
Jason Day, the 2016 winner at Bay Hill, dropped three shots early on day four but fought back to an even-par 72 and a tie for 22nd at five-under.
World No.10 Day is also eager to start his pet event, having won the 2014 and 2016 WGC-Match Play titles.
"I didn't have my A-game this week but they were plenty of positives to get excited for match play," Day said.
"Match play is my favourite format because you only have focus on beating one player at a time and I thrive on the head-to-head competition."
Queensland native Cameron Smith rounds out the Australian contingent at the second WGC of the year, but missed the 36-hole cut at Bay Hill.
Smith is projected to remain at world No.50 and will need a strong showing in Texas to secure an invitation to the Masters.
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