Rose just notched the first hole-in-one at the Olympics in 112 years – and possibly ever – by acing the par-3 fourth hole Thursday to get back to even par on the day.
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Marcus Fraser, the first round leader after an opening 63, followed up with two-under-par 69 on day two to lead the field with a 10-under-par despite a few nerves and sits one shot ahead of Thomas Pieters.
On a day of firsts for Olympic golf, Marcus Fraser of Australia had the one that mattered – the first-round lead.
On a fine day, the Olympic Golf Course poses few challenges to the caliber of players at the Rio Olympics, and even with less than ideal conditions birdies were flying across the par-71 layout, with 29 of the 60 players finishing in the negative.
He admitted that confidence is still high after his Open win and said: “Hopefully confidence doesn’t wear off that easily, but more than anything, I’m just focusing on my game and what I need to do, and I feel like I’ve got pretty good control over most areas of my game, what I need to focus on”. That’s not different. Pieters, from Belgium, has been playing well for most of the year.
Stenson, who won the Open Championship in Scotland last month, was swarmed by blue and yellow clad Swedish supporters throughout his round.
Several big names stumbled.
It was a day to forget for two of Team USA’s favourites Bubba Watson and Rickie Fowler with rounds of 73 and 75 respectively.
Served so well by a scintillating short game, Fraser missed at least six putts by a matter of centimetres that could have strengthened his position at the top of the leaderboard from a chasing pack that includes golfing royalty Sweden’s Henrik Stenson (-8) and Britain’s Justin Rose (-6).¬¬.
An IOC review next September may mean golf’s return to the Olympics does not last beyond Tokyo in 2020, but IGF president Peter Dawson hopes that will not be the case. Golf will be shown across Channel 7’s various free-to-air stations and will also be streamed live on the network’s “Olympics on 7” app.
“I’m glad they decided not to come because I’m here”, Fraser said. If he can drain some more putts, watch out.
The Swede birdied the next two holes, but his problems with the par-threes continued with another blemish at the 17th, although he rattled in a confident six-foot putt for a closing birdie to get back to eight under. It was good, I was solid, I was probably in third gear with an uphill climb just grinding it out.
What it means: now 90th in the Official World Golf Ranking, Fraser earned one of two Australian bids after four of his countrymen – Jason Day, Adam Scott, Marc Leishman and Matt Jones – opted to skip the Games. “I am thinking about it, yeah, but you kind of put that beside you when you’re playing and try to shoot the lowest you can”.
“At the time I thought it was going to be too insane and hectic so I said “no” and that’s one big regret for me”, the 2013 U.S. Open champ told the Standard earlier this week.
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“On the third both Rafa (Cabrera-Bello) and I drove into the water but I managed to tickle a four-wood up onto the front part of the green”.
