She said the young golfers in the program have been watching the Olympic Games all week during lunch and they are excited to take in the sport’s big return.
Advertisement
The Australian tore into the Olympic Golf Course, racking up birdies on five of his first six holes, and nine overall, en route to an eight-under-par 63 that gives him a three-shot cushion at the top of the leaderboard.
Canada’s Graham DeLaet carded a 66 to sit three back and was joined late by Sweden’s 2016 British Open victor Henrik Stenson, who slotted two birdies on his last four holes to take a share of second. One day he was on the team, the next he wasn’t.
Among the early tee times, Fraser put some distance between himself and everyone else. 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 in February.
Asked to describe the feeling of being an Olympian, Fraser added: “It was a pretty surreal feeling but I managed to do a pretty good job of keeping it in check, but yeah, it’s something I’ll never forget, this round, that’s for sure”.
The world No. 145 DeLaet was complimentary about the course after playing it in anger for the first time, and said it poses plenty of challenges. He said: “We went to the Canada House on Tuesday night and the Rugby Sevens girls were with us on the bus going over there, and they had their Bronze Medals when they got there”. “There are some sneaky tough par 4s, especially that stretch 11 to 14”.
“Very rarely do you get to represent your country”.
The veteran Katayama said he was affected by the moment, which led him to struggle. I think given the circumstances, I was quite edgy and a bit jumpy on the first tee, because it’s such a big occasion to be here at the Olympics.
Advertisement
“I had trouble with the wind on the back nine”.
