It wasn’t the end result they wanted but both Marcus Fraser and Scott Hend can hold their heads high after a hugely successful return of golf to the Olympic Games in Rio.

Fraser’s 18 and 36-hole leads, and eventual T5 finish after holing a 20-footer for birdie on the 72nd hole in front of a pumped up crowd, were just some of the highlights in a week that was full of them.

Fraser’s end result will rightly garner the bulk of the headlines but Hend, too, played admirably for all but one hole over the course of the week to finish mid-field in an historic week.

An unfortunate 10 on the par-5 10th on day one ultimately proved too much to overcome for Hend but he made the effort to head out on course following each on his next three rounds and support teammate Fraser who was a genuine medal chance most of the week.

After stunning the field with an opening 63 Fraser held firm in the face of intense pressure from some of the world’s best to earn a front row seat to the gold medal battle as part of the final three ball on Sunday.

Teeing off in outright third and with a three shot buffer on those T4, Fraser looked a good chance at Bronze or even better but a charging Matt Kuchar, and a misbehaving putter, meant it wasn’t to be.

A roller coaster front nine saw the Victorian drop two shots in two holes at the third and fourth then grab them back with consecutive birdies at the next.

However, with the course set up for low scoring on Sunday par golf was never going to be good enough and Fraser’s chances vanished when he made back to back bogies at the seventh and eighth to fall to 2-over for the day.

However, like all those who made the journey to Rio both Fraser and Hend were part of something bigger than just playing for medals with all the golfers talking about the inspiration they took from being part of the Olympics.

Hend even opened a Twitter account in celebration of being part of it all and his first two Tweets summed up his feelings for the week.

"Week has gone way to fast here," he wrote Saturday night. "Can’t remember the last time I’ve felt like a team member like this week. Awesome being a part of it."

Then on Sunday, after completing his final round in the company of America’s Patrick Reed and heading back out to cheer on Fraser, he sent this:

"What a week, very privileged to be an Australian Olympian. It is a week I will never forget. Now for Frase to make some birdies…."

Fraser, too, used the social media channel to sum up his week, first with a congratulations to his playing partners in the final round.

"Congrats @JustinRose99 @henrikstenson and Matt Kuchar on winning medals for your countries, awesome to have a box seat and watch you guys battle," he wrote.

Then, as congratulations for his own performance flooded in, he wrote:

"I’m a proud Australian! I gave it everything I had this week all for our great flag! Thank you @GolfAust & @PGAofAustralia for an amazing week."