European Tour: A lucky eagle helped lift Australian Marcus Fraser into a share of the lead with home favourite Mardan Mamat of Singapore after the first round of the OSIM Singapore Masters at Laguna National Golf and Country Club yesterday.
Fraser looked to be in all sorts of trouble when he pushed his three wood second shot on the par five 15th into thick rough but faced with a 35-yard downhill chip with his swing restricted by trees, he played an exquisite recovery which bounced twice before dropping into the cup.
The eagle three followed five earlier birdies, his one on the seventh also coming from a chip in, and helped him to a seven-under-par 67 to tie early starter Mamat. "Anytime you hole a chip or shot is nice but to hole two shots is good," said Fraser.
Gary Murphy leads the Irish challenge after a three-under-par 69. David Higgins is two shots back on 71, Peter Lawrie on level-par 72 while Damien McGrane and Michael Hoey have work to do after rounds of 74 and 75 respectively.
Murphy went to the turn in level par after a birdie at the third was cancelled out by a bogey five at the ninth. However, three birdies - at the 13th, 15th and 17th - brought him home in 33 to keep him in touch with the leaders.
Meanwhile, Nick Dougherty will be hoping that his sense of déjà vu is a good omen after his first round. The young Englishman finds himself trailing the leaders, just as he was last year when he went on to claim his first European Tour title.
A year ago he trailed Colin Montgomerie; the only difference being Dougherty shot a 68 in 2005 rather than a 69.
Dougherty said: "I am in a similar position to last year. I am one shot worse than last time, and Monty was on seven under - this time it's Mardan and Marcus.
"It was a good score and a good start. I didn't play well, so it's encouraging that I managed to score when not playing that great."
Mamat also finished strongly with three birdies in his last four holes, including a wonderful birdie three on the ninth from the bunker which runs almost the length of the hole. Faced with a 144-yard shot from sand, Mamat hit a wonderful seven iron to two feet to claim the early lead.
