Marcus Fraser breaks drought with sensational victory in Malaysia

Marcus Fraser has won for the first time in almost six years after a dramatic final round at the European Tour’s Maybank Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumper.

Marcus Fraser started the day in second place behind young South Korean Soomin Lee who looked set for victory when he set up a two-stroke lead going into the 16th hole.

However a double-bogey from Lee opened the door for Fraser who made two sensational putts over the closing holes. Fraser’s clutch par-saving putt was superb and meant both players headed to the final hole in a tie for the lead.

Fraser looked to be in the box seat when he found the fairway with his drive and Lee’s ball nestled deep in the rough. But Fraser’s approach came up short and when Lee scuttled his ball towards the green, both players faced awkward chip shots to a back pin.

When Lee couldn’t get up-and-down for par, Fraser faced this difficult downhill, left-to-right putt for victory.

The victory was even more amazing when you consider Fraser did not drop a shot all weekend and prior to this tournament Fraser had made just three cuts in his last six starts.

“I got to the Middle East and I think it was the three worst weeks of golf I’ve played in my career.” Fraser said. “I had some good practice when I went home, went back to absolute basics and tried to sort things out from the start and everything just fell into place as the week went on.”

Fellow Australian and Australian PGA Champion Nathan Holman had added another impressive result to his rookie season on the European Tour.

Holman went into the final round in third place but faded throughout the day to finish five strokes behind Fraser in eighth place.

The victory sees the Corowa-born Fraser jump into sixth place on the European Tour’s Race to Dubai rankings, with rookie Holman in ninth place.

Fraser will move into the world’s top-100 on the world golf rankings (from 142nd) and possibly into the world top-60 becoming the third Australian to win in the 2016 European Tour season along with Nathan Holman and Marc Leishman.

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