Olympic Golf: Fraser’s lead cut to one

• Fraser maintains his lead in Rio de Janeiro
• Australian cards two-under 69 to reach -10
• However, Belgian Pieters is just one shot adrift after 65

Olympic Men’s Golf: Rnd 2
-10 Marcus Fraser; -9 Thomas Pieters; -8 Henrik Stenson; -6 Gregory Bourdy, Justin Rose; -5 Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Graham DeLaet, Danny Lee, Fabian Gomez Selected others: -1 Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed, Martin Kaymer, Danny Willett; +4 Rickie Fowler

Marcus Fraser’s three-shot lead in the men’s Olympic golf competition has been cut to just one as golf’s return to the Games reaches the halfway stage.

Fraser, 38, followed up his scintillating first round of 63 with a two-under 69 to reach ten-under-par after 36 holes in Rio de Janeiro.

However, the second round belonged to big-hitting Belgian Thomas Pieters, who had seven birdies in a blistering five-under 66 to climb to nine-under, just one shot adrift of pacesetter Fraser.

Read more -> The Cut Line: In defence of Olympic Golf

Open champion Henrik Stenson is a further shot adrift in third place after a three-under 68 moved him to eight-under and into the bronze medal position.

Fraser picked up where he left off in round one, picking up shots at the third and fifth holes. He was, in fact, briefly four shots ahead after another birdie at the 11th got him to 11-under-par. However, dropped shots at the 12th and 16th pegged him back before a birdie the last got him back to ten-under.

“It’s always always hard to back up a score like 63 but two-under is a good effort” – Marcus Fraser

Afterwards, he said that his score would have been better had it not been for bad luck on the greens.

“I felt like I putted very similar to yesterday,” said Fraser. “Just the ball found a way to avoid the holes. But that’s golf. That’s the way it goes some days. Overall, I felt really comfortable out there. It’s always hard to back up a score like 63, but I feel like two‑under is a good effort after yesterday.”

CONTINUES BELOW…

Meanwhile, 24-year-old Pieters, a two-time winner on the European Tour, opened with three straight birdies to ignite his charge. He added four more on the inward stretch – coughing up shots at the 11th and 14th holes – to reach nine-under and trim Fraser’s lead to one.

“If you don’t dream about it, you’re never going to achieve it” – Thomas Pieters on the prospect of being the Olympic golf champion

Declaring himself ‘very happy’ with his work, Pieters conceded that he has allowed his mind to wander towards having a gold medal draped around his neck on Sunday evening.

“If you don’t dream about it, you’re never going to achieve it I think,” he said. “I am thinking about it, yeah, but you kind of put that beside you when you’re playing and try to shoot the lowest you can.”

Read more -> Adilson da Silva gets Olympic golf tournament underway

The low round of the day, meanwhile, was carded by New Zealand’s Danny Lee. The 2015 Greenbrier Classic turned in a superb six-under 65 to climb into a four-way share of sixth.

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Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor