Having shed his underdog status on the US PGA Tour, Marc Leishman has challenged himself to step up to the added pressure of being a top seed at the World Golf Championships-Match Play.
Leishman's approach to the head-to-head WGC is vastly different than last year, when he didn't qualify for the Texas event until winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational the week prior.
But after a breakout 2017 season featuring two US Tour wins, the Victorian is high in the world rankings and was given the 11th seed at the elite 64-man WGC at Austin Country Club.
Leishman has drawn tough opponents in South Africa's Branden Grace, two-time Masters winner Bubba Watson and American Julian Suri.
"I've always done well as the underdog, but I'm probably not going to have that tag this week, at least during the group stages," Leishman told AAP.
"As one of the top seeds, I'm not up against guys like DJ (Dustin Johnson) or Jason (Day) in the group but the reason these guys are on the PGA Tour or the European Tour is because they are the best of the best.
"Bubba is a two-time major winner and 'Gracey' has been a great match player in Presidents Cups.
"I'll have to go into those matches with the mindset that I have to play my best golf to win, otherwise you could get eaten up."
Top-seeded Australian Day, a two-time WGC-Match Play winner, has drawn Louis Oosthuizen, Jason Dufner and James Hahn.
Making his WGC debut is Day's countryman Cameron Smith.
As the 46th seed, Brisbane native Smith is up against Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama, Patrick Cantlay and Matsuyama's countryman Yusaku Miyazato.
Currently ranked world No.50, Smith needs a strong finish to secure a Masters invitation to Augusta when the field is all but finalised on Monday.
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