RIO DE JANEIRO — On a day of firsts for Olympic golf, Marcus Fraser of Australia had the one that mattered – the first-round lead.
Fraser ran off four straight birdies before the wind arrived and kept right on going until he had an 8-under 63, giving him a three-shot lead over the British Open champion, Henrik Stenson of Sweden, and Graham DeLaet of Canada.
Better yet? He set an Olympic record Thursday, though that was hardly a surprise considering golf had not been part of the Olympics since 1904.
“That’s pretty cool,” Fraser said. “So hopefully that lasts all week.”
There was plenty for golf to celebrate in its return to the Olympics, from the opening tee shot by Adilson da Silva of Brazil to the first hole-in-one by Justin Rose, who wasn’t even sure his 7-iron from 189 yards on the fourth hole had gone in the cup until he heard the crowd.
WOMEN’S SHOOTING: Barbara Engleder of Germany hit 9.0 on her final shot but had just enough cushion to edge Zhang Binbin of China for gold in women’s 3-position rifle.
American Ginny Thrasher didn’t qualify for the finals and finished 11th after winning the first gold medal of the Rio Games in air rifle last Saturday.
WOMEN’S WATER POLO: The United States improved to 36-2 in 2016 and 2-0 in the Olympics with its 18th straight victory, defeating China 12-4.
The U.S. plays Hungary on Saturday with the quarterfinals starting Monday.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL: The No. 2 U.S. team of Brooke Sweat and Lauren Fendrick was eliminated, losing to Ekaterina Birlova and Evgenia Ukolova of Russia, 21-18, 26-24, 15-13.
The top U.S. women’s team of Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross has advanced to the knockout round with a 3-0 record in pool play. The No. 2 men’s team was eliminated after going 1-2 and losing the playoff tiebreaker.
The top men’s team of Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena won to reach 3-0 and is on to the Round of 16.
WOMEN’S JUDO: Kayla Harrison became the first American to defend an Olympic judo title when she forced Audrey Tcheumeo of France to tap out in the final of 78-kilogram competition.She won the first judo gold for the U.S. in 2012.
TENNIS: Rafael Nadal advanced to the men’s quarterfinals against Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil. The other quarterfinals are Andy Murray of Britain vs. Steve Johnson of the United States; Kei Nishikori of Japan vs. Gael Monfils of France; and Robert Bautista Agut of Spain vs. Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina.
The women’s semifinals are Angelique Kerber of Germany against Madison Keys of the U.S., and Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic against Monica Puig of Puerto Rico. The winners will meet for gold; the losers will meet for bronze.
MEN’S RUGBY: Fiji capped its domination with a 43-7 victory against Britain in the gold-medal match of a sport that was in the Olympics for the first time since 1924.
South Africa won the silver medal with 54-14 win over Japan, which shook up the tournament on day one with an upset win over New Zealand.
WOMEN’S FIELD HOCKEY: The U.S. improved to 4-0 as Katie Bam scored twice in a 3-0 victory against India, and will play Britain on Saturday to determine who will win Pool B.
The United States already has clinched a slot in the quarterfinals. It got off to a strong start by knocking off No. 2 Argentina and No. 3 Australia in its first two matches.
MEN’S TABLE TENNIS: Ma Long, the top-ranked player in the world, extended China’s domination with a 4-0 gold-medal win over countryman Zhang Jike, the reigning London champion.
The victory came a day after Chinese women took gold and silver.
MEN’S SAILING: Dave Hughes, a Yarmouth High and University of Southern Maine graduate, combined with Stuart McNay to finish eighth and 13th in two preliminary races of the 470 dinghy event.
With four of the 10 preliminary races complete, Hughes and McNay are 10th in the 26-boat field with the top 10 advancing to the medal race. Two more preliminary races are scheduled Friday.
WOMEN’S FENCING: Romania beat top-ranked China to win the gold medal in women’s epee fencing Thursday. It’s the first medal of the Rio Games for the Romanians, who outscored China, 44-38.
Russia beat Estonia 37-31 to claim bronze and an Olympic-leading fifth fencing medal.
MEN’S TRACK CYCLING: Britain won the first gold medal of the program, rallying past New Zealand in the final of the men’s team sprint by the slimmest of margins.
The squad of Philip Hindes, Jason Kenny and Callum Skinner trailed their rivals when their second and third riders dropped away, but Skinner was able to make up the difference. They finished in a time of 42.440 seconds, lowering the Olympic record that the Kiwis set in the previous round.
MEN’S BASKETBALL: Spain held off Nigeria 96-87 in a game that started in a nearly entirely empty arena while police exploded a suspicious backpack.
Security officials prevented fans from entering while police exploded the backpack left near a public restroom.
“We thought, I guess nobody came to watch the game,” Pau Gasol of Spain said.
Spain had started the Olympics with narrow losses to Croatia and Brazil. Unbeaten teams Lithuania and Argentina remain on the schedule.
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