Fraser lead at Australian PGA

COOLUM, Bubba Watson trailed European Tour regular Marcus Fraser by two strokes after the second round of the Australian PGA Fraser, who had career-threatening neck surgery in January, shot a 7-under-par 65 Friday. The Australian had a bogey-free round on the... Hyatt Regency resort course, saving par with a 20-foot putt on 17. He had a two-round total of 11-under 133. Watson was in the lead for much of the day, but a three-putt bogey on 18 left him with a 68.

Fraser said he had a disc prolapse in his neck, an injury exacerbated when he picked up his two-year-old son, Archie, at the Australian Open last year. A Melbourne specialist did the surgery. “At one point I had lost pretty much all of the use of my right arm towards the end of last year and start of this year,” he said. “It was quite painful. I was on a lot of medication to try and get the pain down. “They got rid of the old disc, put in a new synthetic disc, put a carbon fibre cage in around that, and a metal plate, so it was pretty full on. If I hadn’t had the operation there was no way I would have played again, so it was a pretty easy decision to make.”

He’s sees some room for improvement on the weekend. “I had a double bogey on each round, so considering the fact that I didn’t really have a clean sheet, I think it’s satisfactory,” Yang said. “I think I can build on this, but I’m going to take whatever the golf course gives me right now.”