Don’t overlook Fraser for golf gold

He made bogey at the second after a tee shot into the bunker but birdied the next four holes.

However, wildlife of a larger size than mosquitoes threatened to disrupt the gold-medal hopes of one title contender during Saturday’s third round of the men’s competition.

Fraser was superb in firing a scintillating -8 (63) to sit three strokes clear on top of the leaderboard, using his precise iron and wedge play to pepper the flagstick, allowing him to convert numerous birdie chances.

“In the beginning it was tough conditions, raining hard, and I just made some bombs and probably made the par of my life on the third hole”, Stenson said.

Marcus Fraser maintains the lead in the Olympic golf tournament. “He thought it was going to be a tap-in and just, like, came up and took a little dive into the cup – which I wasn’t against”.

In girls’ play, Mariel Galdiano of Pearl City, Hawaii, the leader after each of the first two rounds, had a 77 to tie for second with Alyaa Abdulghany (70) of Newport Beach, California. “That’s golf, that happens some days”. Of course, Fowler wasn’t the only American to struggle, as Patrick Reed and Bubba Watson both turned in 2-over 73.

The ace helped Rose compile a 4-under 67 to lie joint fourth, four shots behind Australian Marcus Fraser. – Fowler reveals friendship with Hollywood A-lister Matthew McConaughey.

“It’s gonna be a fun week – I can’t wait”, said Fraser, who’s based in Melbourne and plays much of his golf at Kingswood. It was really cool he was able to make it, he flies back tonight. He flies back tonight. We’re having a great time out there. No better place than here at the Olympics. He almost eagled Hole 2 after a 204 yard drive on his second shot, but the ball rolled to a stop just a foot shy of the hole.

The second round begins on Friday at 11:30 BST, but there is no halfway cut as only 60 players are in the Olympic field.

Fraser is three shots ahead of Canadian Graham DeLaet and Swede Henrik Stenson and said afterwards he was happy his compatriots chose to give the event a swerve due to Zika and safety concerns. “We’ve seen cold and rainy, and we’ve seen hot and windy, so we just need to be prepared for anything”.

Harrington, one of four players chosen to present golf’s case to the International Olympic Committee when it was voted back into the games in 2009, said he was more nervous on the opening tee than when he played his first major.

Rose made two eagles in the opening five holes Saturday and did a little shimmy after making a 10-foot par putt at the end for a 6-under 65, giving him a one-shot lead over Stenson going into the final round – the medal round – at Olympic Golf Course.

Stenson hit his tee shot on the par-4 in the water, then trickled a four wood up to the front of the green, leaving him more than 80 feet away from the hole. He had three double bogeys, six bogeys and a birdie. I couldn’t think of [anything] better than putting something around my neck.