Aussie Marcus Fraser holed a two foot birdie putt at the last to remain in front heading to the weekend rounds of the Men’s Olympic Gold medal showdown in Rio.

The 38-year old posted a two under par 69 to move to 10-under par and one clear of Belgium’s Thomas Pieters (66).

However looming large is Open Champion Henrik Stenson, who despite taking a sloppy bogey at the 17th, signed for a three under 68 to be in third place on eight under par.

Aussie Marcus Fraser birdies the last to lead by one with 36 holes to play in the Olympic Gold medal chase.

Fraser also could look back on a bad bogey in his round at that was at the driveable par-4 16th hole where he pulled his tee shot slightly and needed four more strokes to finish the hole.

But then it was just one two bogeys for the reigning Maybank Championship winner on the Gil Hanse designed course.

“I felt like I putted very similar to yesterday but the only problem was the ball just found a way to avoid the holes,” he said.

“That’s the way it goes some days. Overall, I felt really comfortable out there. It’s always hard to back up a score like 63, but I felt like 2-under 69 is a good effort.”

Pieters also knows what it takes to win having won twice last year on the European Tour and with the 24-year old posting seven second day birdies and just two bogeys.

And last year’s Czech Masters and KLM Open winner attributed his good play in changing his putting stroke this week and switching to left-hand low before the tournament.

“I’m rolling the ball well,” he said.  “I see the putts dropping before I hit them, which is key.

“Also the course suits me as it’s very wide while I’m hitting it good. I’m hitting good iron shots.”

But then there’s Stenson!

The reigning Open Champion went 36 holes alongside Phil Mickelson at Royal Troon and came out on top by three strokes while in May he captured the BMW International Open in Germany.

“You know Henrik’s going to make a lot of birdies, but I know I’m going to make some birdies on the weekend,” Pieters said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

Fraser will feel like he’s playing a different golf course from his two playing companions.

“I probably will feel like I’m playing on my own because they will be about a hundred meters in front of me,” he said. “Those guys have completely different games and bigger games to what I have. At the end of the day, we play 72 holes and we hit a certain amount of shots on each hole. There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”