Just 1 under after his first nine, Lee fired a bogey-free 31 on the back with five birdies, including four in a row to end his day.
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Overnight leader Marcus Fraser dropped back to third place after a disappointing one-over-par 72 left the Australian two strokes behind Stenson.
The two-time Masters victor opened with four gains in five holes on his way to a second successive 67, which will be remembered for a blemish at the 14th where he had a birdie putt from 30 feet but hit it just four.
“Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would come to the Olympics and compete, and now all of a sudden I have a chance of winning a medal”. His round got off to a resounding start as he birdied the first, made a 50-foot putt for birdie on the second and a 108-foot putt for par on the third.
“I didn’t play very well and I was a little bit off and in these conditions on this golf course, it feels like you’re a long way off”.
Fraser, the current order of merit leader on the Asian Tour, is a three-time European Tour victor who most recently claimed victory at the co-sanctioned Maybank Championship in Malaysia this past February.
If the Swede can win an Olympic medal it will top off an incredible month in which he won the British Open and was well in contention on the final-day back-nine at the PGA Championship, where he eventually finished seventh.
“Yeah, today felt so different from yesterday”, said Fraser. You see how much it means to other athletes here in Rio, how people commit and devote their lives to an Olympic medal.
Rose, 36, eventually lifted his arms skyward and smiled, after he realized his 189-yard tee shot had lipped into the fourth hole of the Olympic Golf Course. Rose climbed up the leaderboard to three under par in the first round, one ahead of Team GB team-mate Danny Willett. “You work hard to get into the finals”. Bubba Watson got back into the mix with a 67, including a freaky moment when a piece of mud fell off the bottom of his putter.
World No. 6 Bubba Watson of the United States of America was tied for fourth with Sweden’s David Lingmerth and Argentine Emiliano Grillo on six under, six shots off the lead. – A good night’s sleep was the secret to Rickie Fowler’s strong showing.
Marcus Fraser has scrapped like a terrier to be in a three-way gold medal hunt but Ian Baker-Finch believes the Aussie underdog will upstage the Rio Games “show ponies”.
So the stage is set for a three-way shootout for the medals – a quest for which Fraser said he was pumped.
The sport’s return to the Olympics has many detractors who believe neither needs the other.
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Belgium’s Thomas Pieters and Australia’s Marcus Fraser were alongside An on three under, while three-time major victor Padraig Harrington had birdied the fifth to get back to level par after a bogey on the first.
