FAMILY GUY
This year may be Marcus Fraser’s last as a full-schedule touring golfer, but the Corowa-native isn’t giving up the game for good. Here, he talks about achieving his dreams and looking to the future as he heads to the Australian PGA Championship.
This year may be Marcus Fraser’s last as a full-schedule touring golfer, but the Corowa-native isn’t giving up the game for good. Here, he talks about achieving his dreams and looking to the future as he heads to the Australian PGA Championship.
Professional sportsmen sometimes get a bad rap, with the intrinsic competitiveness required to succeed in their industry often confused for arrogance or self-aggrandisement. Marcus Fraser is as close to the antithesis of this as could be possible; softly spoken, unendingly humble, and thankful for a 16-year career that has seen him take to fairways in the most far-flung corners of the world.
It will seem to fans a shame, therefore, that beyond this month’s Australian PGA Championship on the Gold Coast Fraser will be scaling back his year-long touring commitments. Many would expect Fraser’s announcement that he will no longer be partaking in the European Tour to be a by-product of the wrist and elbow injuries he has su ered in recent years. But the 40-year-old is quick to dismiss any medical reasons as the driving force behind his soon-to-be semi-retirement.
“It’s not really about the injuries,” he refutes. “It’s just after 16 years of playing over in Europe, and being an Australian with a young family and a di erent set of priorities, I needed to scale back my schedule quite a bit. I’d still like to possibly play in Europe in bits and pieces over the next couple of years, we’ll see how that works out, but right now I just can’t commit to a full-time schedule because of family reasons.
“I really wanted to finish it all on my own terms, and I decided probably middle of last year that this year would be my last year playing full time over there and that’s something I was, and still am, comfortable with, and I’m pretty excited for the future.”
That “future” undoubtedly revolves around his role as a parent. What with the multitude of perks that come with being a professional sportsman it can be easy to forget the gruelling schedules and constant practice that keeps golfers away from their family for much of the year. Now, with more than a decade and a half on tour under his belt – or, as he self-depreciatively puts it, a “fairly long” career – Fraser’s hoping for “a little bit more normality at home”.
“More so for the kids, but for myself as well,” he nods. “When you think I’ve been doing this for 16 years, I’ve been away overseas 30 weeks a year, so it’s now time for me to put aside more time for the family, and I’m lucky enough to be able to do that after having that time as a professional. With the kids in primary school it’s a pretty important stage of their lives and I want to be a big part of that.”
Unsurprisingly for someone as grounded as Fraser, the thought of spending more time at home rather than on the course is a welcome one, as opposed to something to be viewed with trepidation. Much has been made of late about the support (or lack thereof ) given to athletes who find themselves with time to burn all of a sudden, but, in Fraser’s case, there should be little cause
I REALLY WANTED TO FINISH IT ALL ON MY OWN TERMS, AND I DECIDED PROBABLY MIDDLE OF LAST YEAR THAT THIS YEAR WOULD BE MY LAST YEAR PLAYING FULL TIME OVER THERE …
–MARCUS FRASER
for concern.
“I think some people struggle, I guess I’ll just see how we go!” he laughs. “I’m a bit of a homebody anyway, I love being home, probably more so than being out on the road, even if I still love playing golf. Home is where I enjoy spending the majority of my time, so hopefully I’ll find that transition fairly easy.”
Family aside, the thought of stepping back from playing in Europe would potentially pose more of an issue for Fraser had he not been a staple of the tour since his arrival on the golfing scene.
“When I first turned pro I went straight over to the European Tour and was lucky enough to get a Challenge Tour card and graduated straight on half way through that year and have been there ever since,” he says. “I’ve been very fortunate that I haven’t had to go back to kiddie’s school, I suppose, and really rally for my career. I think I’ve been lucky to get my card every year.”
As well as taking care of the often-cut-throat financial side of pro sport, this continuous involvement has allowed Fraser to try his luck at the continent’s plethora of iconic courses – most of which any fan would give anything to attempt even once – time and time again.
“The Dunhill Links was probably my favourite spot on tour, to be honest,” he reveals. “It’s quite a unique week, both in terms of the courses we play and the format being dierent. It always seems to work so well, and everyone seems to be having an incredible week.
“There’s probably a bit more added pressure because you want to make the weekend for your teammate. It’s a big week for the amateurs, and you feel like you’re part of that experience for them, so there’s that bit of extra pressure to try and get to the end of the weekend.
“Then the courses themselves, The Old Course, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns, are amazing golf courses, some of my favourite golf courses that I’ve ever played. I think the Old Course is one of those courses – you can count them on one hand – that gets better and better every time you go back there. Every time you go back there you notice little bits and pieces about the golf course you never knew existed and then you end up working out pretty quickly why they’re there when you get a dierent wind direction! Any chance you do get to go there you just jump at it.”
Though this description smacks of a golfer who is content just to have been involved, that humility is more of an expression of Fraser’s genial personality rather than a valid assessment of his career highs.
As one half of Australia’s oering to the first Olympic golf tournament since 1904 at Rio 2016, Fraser made sure that his name will be forever etched in sporting history, and his record in
Europe is nothing to be sni ed at – a fact that even he too eventually concedes.
“The Olympics was something I never thought would ever be possible, and then all of a sudden I was in Rio representing Australia with Scott Hend, and we had an unbelievable week,” he beams. “To be leading after the first round, I think after two rounds even, we were pretty much pinching ourselves.
“But I think winning three events on the European Tour, at Russia, Ballantine’s, and Maybank, is something later on – I’m obviously very proud of it now – but I think later on in life I’ll look back and realise that I really achieved something there.”
Three tournament victories on his travels notwithstanding, Fraser does let on to the fact that a long-awaited win on home soil would rank up there with his biggest achievements. Could it be that his last full-time year in Europe ends with victory at Royal Pines, and an exit befitting more of the silver screen?
“I’m not too sure about fairy tales and all that sort of stu ,” he chuckles. “I think I’ve had three or four runners-up in Australia, and I won one small one there in my first year in 2004, but it would be nice to jag one of those bigger ones. That’s something I’m very excited about; I still have plans to play golf for the next four or five years at least, it just won’t be at a full-time level. It’ll be some events in Australia, which I haven’t really had a chance to play a lot of in the past six years, and a bit in Asia.
“That’s something I’m really looking forward to, and it’ll reignite me a little bit over the next few years. I’ve no intention of slowing down competition wise, it’s just the number of tournaments will slightly decrease. Hopefully doing less in Europe will mean more time and energy I can put towards those big events at home.”
And as a golfer not usually known for his huge drives o the tee, Fraser is relishing the chance to compete on familiar territory, and courses that
have “so much strategy behind them.” “I think a lot of the courses we play week in week out are about who has got the highest tee peg and can just slash it away,” he explains. “In Australia, you’ve got firm, fast fairways and greens and there’s a lot of strategy that goes into it – a bit like the links courses in the UK – it’s not one dimensional in any way. It’s something I really enjoy doing.” Though Fraser’s absence at most major tour stops next year will be felt keenly by fans back home, the man himself is keen to laud the eorts of his younger countrymen. It seems even with his own admittance that the modernisation of the sport has in some respects pushed strategic, old-school golfers like himself to the fringes, there’s hope yet for a future Aussie to emulate the on-green exploits of men like Jason Day, or even Fraser’s own hero, Greg Norman. “I used to get up early and watch Greg Norman play in majors and massive events around the world, and then I’ve been lucky to play with him a couple of times as well later on in my career,” he enthuses.
“But I think Curtis Luck and Cameron Smith – those guys are coming through at the moment who could go on to become massive names. It’s getting pretty tough out there, there’s a lot of guys on that same level. The game has definitely changed over the last few years, and there’s not much room for old blokes like me anymore. But with all the young guys, it’ll be a pretty interesting sport to watch from here on out I think.”
For his own part, Fraser is just happy to have played at a time when golf really began to be recognised around the world. From relatively humble beginnings, the past 20 years have seen a huge increase in prize money, funding, sponsorship, and global audience figures.
“When I first turned pro, Tiger had just come on the scene and I was very fortunate to be playing in this era where we’re all playing for a lot more money than guys had in the past,” he agrees. “That’s mainly due to Tiger to be honest. I think Palmer, Nicklaus, Faldo, Norman and Tiger have probably been the guys who have had the biggest impact on the sport.”
As to his own last impression on the sport,
HOPEFULLY DOING LESS IN EUROPE WILL MEAN MORE TIME AND ENERGY I CAN PUT TOWARDS THOSE BIG EVENTS AT HOME.
Fraser is typical in his lack of desire to steal any sort of spotlight for himself. Though some fans may fervently disagree, Fraser doesn’t think he has “any legacy to leave in golf to be honest!”
“As a kid that grew up in a small country town and next minute I’m over playing on the European Tour, one of the biggest tours in the world, and some of the best golf tournaments in the world, I pinch myself every morning to be honest,” he smiles. “Hopefully my kids will look at that and chase their dreams, whatever those may be, whether it’s sport or anything else. Looking back, I want my kids to see that and say, ‘Dad had a dream, he tried to chase after it as much as he could.’
“I was never pushed into golf as a kid, I found it because I loved playing, and I think for them that they love doing. It’s the challenge of parents to find what that thing is for their kids that they love doing. Hopefully they’ll find it, and I’ll be there every step of the way helping out. Not many people get to do what they love for a living, and provide for a family doing what they love, so I’ve been very fortunate. Definitely no regrets.”