Q.  Marcus Fraser, 69 in those conditions is quite some golf.  You’ve got some form happening.

MARCUS FRASER:  Yeah.  I mean, I just felt like I was really in control of what I was doing.  I don’t think anyone’s in control of their game out there, I felt like I was in control of what I was trying to do and you’ve just got to let it go and see what the wind does to the ball in the air.  I felt like we did a really good job of gauging where the wind was at and where we were trying to land it.  Really had a good feel for the golf course, which is pretty important on a day like today.

Q.  How hard is it?

MARCUS FRASER:  How hard?

Q.  How hard is it?

MARCUS FRASER:  Yeah, I always describe it, my old man plays off about 14.  He’s a good golfer, but I think he would have struggled to beat 110 out there today.  I think that’s probably as strong a wind as I think I’ve played in anywhere.  It’s lucky the greens are a little bit slower because I think the ball would be moving around if it wasn’t.

Q.  It looked like on 18 there you almost lost your footing.  Was that you wind related?

MARCUS FRASER:  Yeah, even for a big bloke like me to lose my footing, the wind’s blowing me over, it must be strong.  There’s plenty of girth there to keep me pretty balanced, but not today.

Q.  You said before on TV it’s borderline unplayable.

MARCUS FRASER:  Borderline.  I think if the greens weren’t ‑‑ if they hadn’t slowed up the greens, it would be unplayable, but I think they’ve done a great job of putting pins in the right spots and slowing the greens down.  They knew the forecast and they’ve done exactly what they needed to do because I think if they hadn’t have done that.  We wouldn’t be out there this afternoon if they hadn’t ‑‑ if the greens were a little bit quicker and pins in some silly spots.  We’re the first to go after the tournament directors if they get it wrong, but I think today it was all credit to them because we could have quite easily been in the clubhouse all afternoon.

Q.  What’s the mantra when the wind just keeps getting up and up and up?  What are you thinking?

MARCUS FRASER:  I think you just remind yourself you’ve been playing golf for a long time and you know what to do.  It’s one of the first lessons I ever got taught, the wind is your friend, don’t try to fight it, you know what I mean?  A lot of times you’re trying to turn it back into the breeze and when it’s strong, you double cross it or you get it going so far on the breeze, just use the wind and.  Like I said, just let it be your friend and just use it.

Q.  Was there a hole you had today where you just had to take almost a ridiculous club distance‑wise?

MARCUS FRASER:  Yeah, where was it?  I think it was, well, on the seventh hole I hit an 8‑iron 91 metres and I normally hit it 140.  I think I hit a 6‑iron 125 metres and I normally hit it 160.  But then at the same time you’re hitting 3‑iron about 260, 270 metres.

Q.  What did you hit into No. 8?

MARCUS FRASER:  The brain’s cooked at the moment.  What is No. 8?  5‑wood, yeah.  Probably nearly one of my best shots of the day, came up on the front left edge and didn’t get up and down.  It’s easy to get frustrated at that stuff, but you’ve just got to remind yourself of the conditions and not let it get to you because I only had two bogeys today and I thought that was a pretty good effort.

Q.  Do you think about maybe winning?

MARCUS FRASER:  I think you always think about winning.  It’s always in the back of your head because that’s why we enter a golf tournament.  I think, yeah, I’m trying ‑‑ at the moment I feel like I’ve been so far off playing well, I’ve got some other things I’m working on, sort of concentrating on doing that and forget about what the outcome is, whether it’s good or bad.  So I feel like I’m trying to put something in place to get me back playing not only the way I want to play but the way I know I can play, which is I played at a very high level at a long time, been fortunate to do that and I think I’m putting things back in place to get back to feeling comfortable on the golf course.

Q.  And there’s a really good irony in all of this because if you win tomorrow, you’ll get a European card.  You’ve spent more than a decade in Europe and taken the hard decision to come home.  It’s ironic.

MARCUS FRASER:  Yeah, absolutely.  I mean, at the end of the day I love playing golf, so that’s all I’m here this week.  I think it’s all credit to the cast on all these teams that turned this into a European Tour event with the Australian Tour and it’s just growing from strength to strength and hopefully gets bigger and better because it’s got a lot of momentum at the moment, that’s for sure.