Not much went Marcus Fraser's way Saturday at the men's Olympic golf tournament, yet he is still in contention to win the first golf gold medal in more than a century.
The Australian, who led after the first and second rounds, didn't have his first birdie until the 13th hole in Round 3, which got him back to even par for the day. That birdie, his only one in the round, barely snuck in the side door of the cup. In comparison, Fraser had a combined 13 birdies the first two days of the competition.
The three-time European Tour winner finished with a 1-over par 72 in round 3 and has sole possession of third place, 3 shots behind 54-hole leader Justin Rose from Great Britain and 2 strokes back of Sweden's Henrik Stenson.
Fraser knows the golfers ahead of him on the leaderboard, both of whom are major champions, won't make it easy for him to capture the gold medal. But he isn't letting that deter him.
"Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would come to the Olympics and compete, and now all of a sudden, I have a chance of winning a medal," said Fraser, who got into the field after four countrymen withdrew for various reasons. "It feels like I'm going to wake up from this dream at some point. This is why we practice and we want to be in these situations and see what we've got. Hopefully, I can go out there [Sunday] and play a bit better than I did today and continue to scramble when I need to and shoot a good score."
With his opening-round and Olympic-record 63 on Thursday, Fraser proved he can put up low numbers around the Olympic Golf Course that resembles venues in the Sand Belt of his native Australia. But can he overtake Rose and Stenson, plus hold off the rest of the field, to win Sunday?
"I probably need those guys to be a little bit off to be able to do that," said Fraser, who will be in the final pairing with Rose and Stenson. "Their best is a lot better than my best, and I'm not hiding away from that. If I go out there and do a good job with my game and the way I play, I think I definitely have a chance, that's for sure."
When his head hits the pillow Saturday, Fraser will go to sleep knowing he's just 18 holes from making history.
"Yeah, you can't hide from it," he said. "It's right there in front of you, so you can't hide away from it or shy away from it. Like I go out there every time, I try and feel like I do my best and play as hard as I can and try and make as many birdies as I can, and tomorrow will be no different.
"If it's good enough at the end of the day to get a medal, so be it. I couldn't think of [anything] better than putting something around my neck. Hopefully that comes off, but I won't leave anything on the table. I'll give it everything."
