Fraser looked to be coasting towards a weekend appearance at Muirfield after getting to three under for the day, and one under overall, midway through his second round yesterday.

But he dropped six shots in the final six holes to card a disappointing 74 and leave him facing a nervous wait at five-over par.

Luckily, the cut-off mark was eventually marked at eight-over par after a brutal day's play.

Most frustrating, the Corowa star was feeling he actually hadn’t played too badly on the home stretch.

He admitted a “few bad swings” were to blame but also felt he couldn’t catch a break.

“It feels like every time I’m in one of those (sand) traps I’m underneath the lip,” Fraser said.

“I just got completely shafted a couple of times.

“It’s a kick in the guts really.

“I felt like I played as good a golf as I’ve played for long time the past two days and to finish like that was pretty frustrating.”

It continued months of frustration for the 34-year-old, who is ranked 84th in the world after some good results in Europe and Asia in recent years.

He came into the event having missed the cut at his past five tournaments.

But Fraser’s hopeful of sneaking into the weekend play to allow him to build some much-needed momentum.

“I wouldn’t be surprised after the past couple of months if (the score) it misses out. We’ll wait and see,” Fraser said.

“Hopefully it sneaks through. It’d be a nice to play a weekend, I haven’t played one for a couple of months.”

Fraser was among a host of players who had to contend with brutally quick conditions on a sun-baked Muirfield course yesterday.

He had been hoping to make the most of calmer conditions and softer greens, which had been watered overnight.

Under sunny Scottish skies, Masters champion Adam Scott looked strong early yesterday, getting up and down for par on the first hole with a sublime chip.

However, bogeys at the fourth and sixth holes saw him drop through the pack.

Scott is looking to make amends for his late collapse at last year’s event, where he effectively handed victory to South African Ernie Els.