Marcus Fraser lead a day of firsts for Olympic golf

Bubba Watson (R) and Matt Kuchar (L) chat during the second round of the 2016 Travelers Championship golf tournament at TPC River Highlands last month.

Now he is leading it.

Olympic golf will survive Rio: The golfers who made the trip to Brazil for the revival of golf in the Olympics are saying all the right things about the golf course and the Rio experience, and it kind of looks like they mean it. ” … The game just became more challenging when the winds picked up”.

“Words can’t really put it into perspective”, Fowler said.

After a day of getting settled and taking pictures around the Olympic Village with wife Justine and caddy Kessler Karain, Reed said he played the front nine on Rio’s Reserva de Marapendi Olympic golf course in the city’s Barra da Tijuca neighborhood. Prior to that victory in March, Scott had won the Honda Classic and WGC-Cadillac Invitational.

“A lot of players get a bit of grief every now and again for not playing certain events and having played both tours a couple of times in my career, picking your schedule is quite hard”. Most of the absentees cited the Zika virus.

“It’s all about what the wind does”, Fowler said on Tuesday at a news conference. “I really wanted to be here and I think it’s exciting”. But I’m very happy with the decision that I’ve made (not to go to Rio), and I have no regrets about it.

“I enjoy so much to be with people who know why they’re here and why they do what they do, and they give it their all”. “If I’m third, I’m going to make sure I don’t go back to fourth real quick”, said two-time Masters champion Watson. As herbivores, they are mainstays in Rio help keep the grass trimmed.

Sixty golfers will play 72 holes of stroke play on the 7,128 yard, par-71 layout on a former sand quarry along saltwater marshes and lagoons. It seemed like a tour-caliber golf course.

“It’s a fun golf course to play”, said Rickie Fowler, who arrived in time for the opening ceremony and has been playing the course since Sunday. If they remind you of a hippo, you’re not far off. The International Golf Federation is trying to stoke interest over the next two weeks by offering an area where fans can get swing tips and hit into nets, simulators with a closest-to-the-flag and long drive competition, and a six-hole putting course.

Stenson’s score was particularly impressive as it came in the more hard afternoon conditions, the Swede teeing off in the last three-ball of the day.

“When I tapped in on 18, [it] looked like it was only a 3-footer, but when it went in, I looked down there and grabbed my ball out of the hole and it’s something I’ll never forget, ” Fraser said.

Better yet? He set an Olympic record Thursday, though that was hardly a surprise considering golf had not been part of the Olympics since 1904.

The win at Royal Troon also ended a three-year winless drought on the PGA Tour for Stenson, who turned 40 earlier this year and faced questions as to whether he could capture a major championship.