MARCUS FRASER LEADS BY ONE IN AUSTRALIAN OPEN
FROM THE AGE.COM.AU WEBSITE
By DARREN WALTON
By DARREN WALTON
His heavyweight rivals stumbled as Marcus Fraser (pictured) rode the
momentum of his magical first-day hole-in-one all the way to the
outright halfway lead of the Australian Open at The Lakes Golf Club in
Sydney today.
With overnight leader John Senden struggling to a one-over 73 and World No.4 Justin Rose (73) also faltering after a strong start, Fraser profited with his second consecutive 69.
While he was unable to repeat his first-round ace on the 184-metre par-3 15th, Fraser's five birdies propelled the 34-year-old to six under par for the championship.
He is one stroke ahead of Senden and fellow New South Welshman Brendan Jones (70) - and all after playing on three continents in the past three weeks.
"This is my seventh week in a row and I still have one more to go next week (at the Australian PGA).
"I was in America last week for the Tour school and it did not work out the way I would have liked.
"I pulled the pin early and got back into Melbourne on Monday morning to give myself an extra couple of days to get ready for this week."
Fraser mixed birdies on the sixth, seventh, 13th, 14th and 17th holes with bogeys on three and nine to nudge ahead of the chasing pack on Friday.
Senden had a roller-coaster round but is still well in the mix, while Rose is three shots off the pace with a bunch of players at three under.
Rose seized the outright lead at seven under on his front nine, only to leak five shots in his last 12 holes.
The pedestrian performances of most of the first-round leaders left a host of players in the mix heading into the weekend.
Marc Leishman, Australia's only winner on the 2012 US PGA Tour, is two under after posting a 72, while pre-tournament favourite Adam Scott is one under after a scratchy round of 71.
After feeling embarrassed by his first-day 78, American drawcard Tom Watson thrilled fans with a brilliant bounce-back 68, the day's equal best, to make the weekend.
Starting on the 10th, the eight-time major winner peeled off birdies on the third, 13th, 14th, 17th and 18th holes to claw his way back to two-over for the tournament.
"I hate missing cuts, I really do. That means you've failed," Watson said.
Playing alongside Watson, defending champion Greg Chalmers (75) notched his only birdie of the day on his third-last hole to join the American at two over.
Chalmers admitted he had his work cut out winning a third Australian Open after failing to capitalise on the benign morning scoring conditions.
"Three par-5s on the back nine and I bogeyed two of them. That's not going to work if you want to have a good score out here," he said.
"I guess I'm going to get to play on the weekend so I get to go out and shoot a low score, but certainly I'm probably going to start a long way back."
At least Chalmers secured a weekend start - because fellow two-times champion Robert Allenby (+6) didn't after racking up a 77, nor did US PGA Tour card winner Steven Bowditch (+9) after a 76.
AAP
TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES ON THE PGA OF AUSTRALASIA WEBSITE
CLICK HERE
With overnight leader John Senden struggling to a one-over 73 and World No.4 Justin Rose (73) also faltering after a strong start, Fraser profited with his second consecutive 69.
While he was unable to repeat his first-round ace on the 184-metre par-3 15th, Fraser's five birdies propelled the 34-year-old to six under par for the championship.
He is one stroke ahead of Senden and fellow New South Welshman Brendan Jones (70) - and all after playing on three continents in the past three weeks.
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"It has been pretty full-on for the past couple of months," said Fraser, fresh off his best ever season in Europe."This is my seventh week in a row and I still have one more to go next week (at the Australian PGA).
"I was in America last week for the Tour school and it did not work out the way I would have liked.
"I pulled the pin early and got back into Melbourne on Monday morning to give myself an extra couple of days to get ready for this week."
Fraser mixed birdies on the sixth, seventh, 13th, 14th and 17th holes with bogeys on three and nine to nudge ahead of the chasing pack on Friday.
Senden had a roller-coaster round but is still well in the mix, while Rose is three shots off the pace with a bunch of players at three under.
Rose seized the outright lead at seven under on his front nine, only to leak five shots in his last 12 holes.
The pedestrian performances of most of the first-round leaders left a host of players in the mix heading into the weekend.
Marc Leishman, Australia's only winner on the 2012 US PGA Tour, is two under after posting a 72, while pre-tournament favourite Adam Scott is one under after a scratchy round of 71.
After feeling embarrassed by his first-day 78, American drawcard Tom Watson thrilled fans with a brilliant bounce-back 68, the day's equal best, to make the weekend.
Starting on the 10th, the eight-time major winner peeled off birdies on the third, 13th, 14th, 17th and 18th holes to claw his way back to two-over for the tournament.
"I hate missing cuts, I really do. That means you've failed," Watson said.
Playing alongside Watson, defending champion Greg Chalmers (75) notched his only birdie of the day on his third-last hole to join the American at two over.
Chalmers admitted he had his work cut out winning a third Australian Open after failing to capitalise on the benign morning scoring conditions.
"Three par-5s on the back nine and I bogeyed two of them. That's not going to work if you want to have a good score out here," he said.
"I guess I'm going to get to play on the weekend so I get to go out and shoot a low score, but certainly I'm probably going to start a long way back."
At least Chalmers secured a weekend start - because fellow two-times champion Robert Allenby (+6) didn't after racking up a 77, nor did US PGA Tour card winner Steven Bowditch (+9) after a 76.
AAP
TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES ON THE PGA OF AUSTRALASIA WEBSITE
CLICK HERE
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