Marcus Fraser made Olympic golf look like child’s play after dominating round one of the Men’s Individual Stroke Play event in Rio.

Mastering the conditions early, Fraser came out firing right from his opening hole reeling off five birdies in six holes in his assault on the front-9.

Fraser looked right at home on the Olympic golf course in Barra da Tijuca; putting for birdie on every hole with the only blemish on his card coming on the par-4 2nd where he recorded a lone bogey.

Signing for 8-under 63, Fraser had the privilege of recording the first official Olympic course record on the purpose built course at Reserva de Marapendi.

"I felt like I did everything really well today and really deserved 8‑under. But that wind is pretty strong out there now and I think 8‑under this afternoon will be probably equivalent to 10 or 11 under," said Fraser.
 
"We had probably seven or eight holes with that pretty strong breeze at the end there. I’m pretty happy to be sitting in here with 8‑under and let those boys go out there this afternoon and enjoy that wind."

It was a different feeling this week for the European Tour regular, who admitted to nerves creeping in before embarking on the first round.

"I was a little bit jumpy on the first tee because it was so different. Every week we play for ourselves at a normal tournament, but you know, firstly, we’re playing for our country this week and then playing for ourselves. Maybe that’s why I felt so different, it was a little bit more pressure on
that first tee shot."

However, while all eyes were on the Aussie veteran, Englishman Justin Rose almost stole the show with a hole-in-one on the par-3 4th and the first ace to be recorded in Olympic golf history.

Fraser’s fellow team mate Scott Hend had a round he’d rather forget with things coming unstuck for the Queenslander on the par-5 10th where he posted 10 on his way to 3-over 74 in round one.

Fraser is paired with France’s Julien Quesne and Japan’s Shingo Katayama in the second round of the Men’s Individual Stroke Play event. He will tee off at approximately 11:00pm (AEDT) Friday evening. Hend is paired with China’s Wu Ashun and Italy’s Nino Bertasio in the second round and he will tee
off at approximately 9:00pm (AEDT).

Channel 7 has live Olympic action of the Games in Rio de Janeiro across a number of platforms. Golf will be shown across Channel 7’s various free-to-air stations and will also be streamed live on the network’s "Olympics on 7" app.

Related links

Blog   / Live updates from the Rio Olympics
News / Inside Rio
News / Hend, Fraser at home in Rio
News / Golf ready to take centre stage in Rio