Frazier on fire, earns shot at singles title

When Quang Duong beat No. 1 Ben Johns in the round of 16 in the men’s singles bracket earlier in the week, it opened up all the possibilities. 

After all, if the best, most-prolific winner on tour is out, the rest of the field has to rest a bit easier. It’s got to breathe some life into the rest of the field.

“Ben Johns losing just opens up the draw a lot,” Dylan Frazier said. 

It did for Duong, who looked to be the hottest player in the game at the PPA Tour’s first tournament of the year – the Hyundai Masters. 

But it’s certainly safe to say no one is playing better than Frazier. Duong gets full credit for knocking out Johns, but Frazier stopped Duong in the semifinals Saturday and followed it up with a come-from-behind, then come-out-nowhere rally against the world’s second-best player Federico Staksrud, and earned his first singles gold on the PPA Tour.

“I think you can say that,” Frazier said when asked if it’s him that’s playing the best in Rancho Mirage, Calif. “Things are really working for me with some of the strategies I’ve been using. But you know, anything can happen in singles.”

Anything did happen Sunday at the Mission Hills Country Club. Frazier was trounced by Staksrud 11-2 in the first game, won the second game 11-7 and then rallied from 9-3 down in the third for an 11-9 clincher that left Staksrud shaking his head as he left the court and left Frazier holding the trophy.

“I was just trying to stay focused on every point,” Frazier said of his third-game rally. “Just playing like it’s 0-0, and early in the match. I dug myself a hole, but I was just trying to stick to my plan and going at it one at a time.” 

Frazier came into the tournament as the No. 10 seed and had to play Wednesday in the round of 32, losing his first game of the tournament to Patrick Kawka, 11-4. And Frazier scrapped to a 12-10 win in the second game against Kawka before earning the victory, 11-4 in the third. From there, Frazier beat his doubles partner J.W. Johnson in two games, then beat Tyson McGuffin – the No. 3 seed, getting him to the semis against Duong.

Staksrud fell to 3-6 all-time in championship matches. He last won gold in September in Cincinnati beating Johns for the title.

Meanwhile, Frazier has an astounding 26 medals on the PPA Tour, but had never won gold in singles. He has a silver and a pair of bronze, falling to Johns in the 2022 Tournament of Champions in his other chance to win gold before Sunday.

“My passing shots are improving and it’s something I’ve struggled with the most,” Frazier said. “But I’ve made a conscious effort to work on it. I got to keep playing. I wasn’t playing that well at the end of last year, so I’m glad it’s clicking now and hopefully can keep it going.”