Two years ago at the Emirates Australian Open, Marcus Fraser picked up his young son Archie over his head and felt a pain in his neck. A prolapsed disc was the diagnosis, and his career was suddenly under threat. Without the operation he had a month later to replace the damaged disc with a synthetic one, insert a steel plate and surround it with a carbon fibre cage, Fraser would not have played golf again. Thus, Marcus Fraser was a happy man today to be in contention to win his national title after a three-under-par 69 at The Lakes vaulted him to a piece of the lead. When he signed his card and went to the media tent, Victorian Fraser had a one-shot lead, although first-round leader John Senden and Englishman Justin Rose were just going out on the course. Fraser says the whole experience of the injury has given him new perspective, and his best-ever season in Europe and Asia is the result. More than anything it was a big wake-up call for me, how much I enjoy the game and how much I love being out there, he said. Sometimes you take it for granted. You need something like that to give you a kick in the butt and wake up. Download the Official Emirates Australian Open app today Fraser is playing for the seventh consecutive week, all in different countries, as part of his gruelling schedule. After pitching for his first Australian Open title this weekend he heads back up to Malaysia to see if he can win the Asian Tour money title (he is laying second), making it eight tournaments in a row. The string began in Malaysia in late-September followed by China (the HSBC tournament), the Singapore Open, the Hong Kong Open, the European tour s championship in Dubai, then a failed attempt to extract a United States PGA Tour playing card in the US last week. He flew back into Melbourne on Monday and by Thursday was teeing it up at The Lakes. The last time he played such a string of events was two years ago, when his neck gave way. But nowadays the 34-year-old has caught up with the global trend for hiring personal trainers, and he keeps himself fit. I ve learned my lesson the hard way I suppose, and I m trying to do a better job of looking after myself. Amazingly, Fraser was three-over-par and headed out of the tournament through 10 holes on Thursday. I think it was QF 323 (to Asia) was the first thought! he said. I didn t really do much wrong for the next 10 holes and all of a sudden I was three-over-par. I said to myself there s a lot of birdie chances on that final stretch . I definitely made the most of it. It was nice. He birdied the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th holes on Thursday, then holed his tee shot at the par-three 15th. Suddenly he was in contention. Obviously to have one go in like that it turned the round and the tournament around from where I was. The product of a big family of brilliant golfers from Corowa on the Murray, Fraser has never contended in an Australian Open. He thinks he knows why. It’s probably down to putting too much pressure on myself. It’s the premier event in Australia. As a kid it s the one you really watch growing up along with the Aussie Masters. You come here wanting to do well and wanting to contend and putting too much pressure on. Hopefully I ve taken some pressure off this week. I ve been playing so much I feel like I m going with the flow a little bit. Playing week-in week-out you re going through the same routine every day and it feels like another golf tournament. At the same time it is the Aussie Open. Definitely it s the pick of the bunch of the eight weeks for me. Join in the conversation via our Social Hub
Author: Martin Blake / emiratesaustralianopen.com.au