The former Corowa junior, who has plied his trade on the European Tour for a decade, was among the first to hit off from the 10th tee at The Australian in blustery winds.

A bogey at the first was followed by the shot of the day on the par 3 11th hole, his second, that used the bank behind the green to roll back to three feet.

Fraser dropped shots on two of the par 3s and the tough first to finish the day at three-over.

“It was tough out there,” he said.

“The wind was coming and going, there was a bit of drizzle and the fact was I didn’t hit it close enough.

“It’s an Australian Open and you need to hit it close, need to get up and down.

“I was sloppy around the greens and couple of those chip shots cost me bogey.”

Fraser said he felt at three-over he was still in the contest.

“Anything around par is going to be a reasonable score out there,” he said.

“The pins were pretty tough to get at, even from the middle of the fairway you couldn’t go straight at them.”

And what of his iron to a matter of a few feet on the 11th.

“It was the right club to carry the bunker and then it skipped up the hill and rolled back down to a makeable putt,” he said.