Marcus Fraser remains firmly in the hunt to win Australia’s first Olympic medal in golf despite what he called a “scrappy” round at the Olympic Golf Club in Rio today.
The 38-year-old world ranked number 90 holed just the one birdie, on the 13th, and shot two bogeys as he finished one over par with his day all about saving pars rather than hitting scoreboard-busting low scores.
Heading into the fourth and final round tomorrow, Fraser is nine under par to sit in the bronze medal position, two shots behind Swede Henrik Stenson and three behind new leader Justin Rose from Great Britain who shot a remarkable 65 in testing conditions.
Three players, including 2014 Masters champion Bubba Watson, are three shots further back tied for fourth.
“My timing was a little bit off all day and it was a bit scrappy to be honest,” explained Fraser.
“I guess with the conditions it was always going to be that way, but I’m happy with the way I stuck on in there. I made plenty of par saves and it keeps me in the hunt for tomorrow.”
Fraser went into the day one shot clear at 10-under par, grouped alongside nearest challengers Henrik Stenson and Thomas Pieters.
A tense first, and see-sawing next three holes which saw the lead change hands twice, soon gave way to pragmatic stroke play as the conditions turned decidedly breezy.
The Aussie will be in the last group to tee off tomorrow morning alongside Rose and Stenson and he is relishing the prospect of going toe-to-toe with two “world-class” performers.
“They have games I can only dream of having. But I’m going to go out there and play my own game,” he said.
“Today I didn’t go out and think about what Henrik and Thomas were doing, I focussed on myself.
“My game plan all week has been to just go and play the golf course and that’s what I intend on doing tomorrow.
“I feel like I’m a fairly aggressive anyway and I will continue to play that way. If it comes off, it comes off. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.
“You want to walk off knowing you’ve given everything you can and hopefully that’s good enough at the end of the day.”
Fraser added: “It’s a tough course out there. If there’s a chance for a birdie, I’ll try and take it. If not, I’ll press on with the next hole.”
A vocal crowd in excess of 12,000 supported the event at the Olympic Golf Course on Saturday and Fraser was quick to praise their support.
“It’s been great for all three days. I’ve been blown away by it and all the players love the support.
“A lot of people are supporting me back at home and I really appreciate it.
“My social media has gone into meltdown – I think I’ve picked up 400 followers on Twitter or something. Perhaps I should just play here more often!” he quipped.
Fraser’s compatriot Scott Hend had an up-and-down day after slotting six birdies, four bogeys and one double bogey in a day which left him one over par and tied for 36th heading to the final round.
Leaderboard:
1st (12 under par) J Rose (GBR)
2nd – (11 under) H Stenson (SWE)
3rd - (9 under) M Fraser (AUS)
Equal 4th – (6 under) B Watson (USA), D Lingmerth (SWE), E Grillo (Arg)
Tee-off times for round four (Australian players):
Scott Hend - 8.22am (9.22pm AEST) – with Patrick Reed (USA) and Jaco van Zyl (RSA).
Marcus Fraser 10.39am (11.39pm AEST) – with Justin Rose (GBR) and Henrik Stenson (SWE).
Steve Stammers
olympics.com.au
