Golf: Fraser fights back to pip Lee in final

By BOB PEARCE

Hard work and relentless concentration paid off for Australian Marcus Fraser yesterday when he beat Eddie Lee of Christchurch 2 and 1 in the final of the national amateur championship.

He was four down after 10 of the 36 holes but fought back to be level at halfway. He got his nose in front on the 19th hole and kept it there.

The 23-year-old from Melbourne is a member of the four-man squad from which Australia's world amateur team will be chosen.

But by his own admission Fraser was not at his best in the early stages of the championships on the immaculate Middlemore course.

"Through the early part of the week I really struggled," he said. "But I knew the problems and I worked hard to fix them.

"When I was four down I said to myself just hang in there, anything is possible over 36 holes. On the back nine in the afternoon I just drove it magic."

Lee, still only 18, must have envisaged an early end when he was four up but when things began to go wrong he kept in touch with par-saving putts and tough bunker shots.

The key to Fraser's victory was his accurate driving. On a course where the undulations of the greens and fairways demand good course management, Fraser seemed generally to have the easier approach, while Lee was forced to improvise.

The statistics tell the story. In the morning Fraser hit 10 of 15 fairways and 12 of 18 greens in regulation. Lee hit 10 greens but only seven fairways. In the afternoon Lee hit only four fairways against Fraser's nine of 14.

Lee's golden run came when he won 8, 9 and 10 with two birdies and a par and he had six birdies in the first 18. But he also had four bogeys.

In the afternoon, Fraser birdied the 19th to go one up but Lee responded in kind on the 21st. Fraser's birdie on the 27th regained the lead and he clinched the win with another on the 34th.

In the semifinals on Saturday, Fraser beat Bradley Iles from Manor Park 6 and 5 while Lee had a couple of eagles to beat Australian Bronson LaCassie by the same margin.

After the final the national selectors named Lee in their final five players from whom the New Zealand world amateur team of three will be chosen.

The others are strokeplay winner Brad Shilton (Te Awamutu), Sam Hunt (Rotorua), Mathew Holten (Te Aroha) and Tim Wilkinson (Golf City).

They will play tournaments in Malaysia in May and July before the Eisenhower Trophy in October.