Aussie rules, but DeLaet still in the hunt
Australian Marcus Fraser didn’t hide the fact he has surprised himself by leading after two rounds of Olympic golf.
“If someone had told me I would be in this position at the start of the week, I would have told them to go somewhere,” Fraser said after completing his second round at 2-under 69 Friday.
Ranked 90th in the world, Fraser sits at 10 under through two rounds, holding off bigger names on the leaderboard like Sweden’s Henrik Stenson (8 under) and Great Britain’s Justin Rose (6 under).
He’ll play in the final group Saturday with Stenson and Thomas Pieters of Belgium, who is second at 9 under.
“Any time you play with Stenson at the weekend, you know you are doing something right,” Fraser said. “It’s fine. I know those boys have completely different, bigger games to what I have. But there is more than one way to skin a cat. It will be good fun out there.”
Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., followed up his 5-under opening round with an evenpar 71 on Friday and is tied for sixth heading into the weekend. He birdied the 18th hole for the second straight day.
“It was nice to make that and get it back to even par for the day and still be right in it,” DeLaet said. “I felt like I was just kind of playing from behind all day.”
David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., shot a 1-under 70 on Friday and sits 1 over for the tournament. He is 11 strokes back of the leader, but Hearn is not giving up.
“Overall I played better today than I did yesterday,” he said. “I got off to a better start. I feel like I’m getting more and more comfortable with the golf course and hopefully I’m not too far back to make a good run this weekend and I’ll have a chance at a medal. I’ll need a pretty special weekend, but I think I still have a chance.”
One of the biggest movers of the day was two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson of the United States, who shot a 4-under 67 for 2 under on the tournament.
Rickie Fowler of the U.S., who at 4 over still believes he has a “very outside chance” to win, was followed around the course by actor Matthew McConaughey.
“We’ve always followed each other on social media,” Fowler said. “It was really cool he was able to make it. He flies back tonight. It is the first time we have met in person. No better place than here at the Olympics.”
DeLaet also had a strong following as he played Friday.
“There were some Canadian onesies out there, people were draped in the flag and the red and white,” DeLaet said. “It’s a lot of fun to play in front of that. We don’t get it every week, and it makes it all a little more special.”