Hend and Fraser win Olympic spots

Scott Hend, Marcus Fraser, Minjee Lee and Su-Hyun Oh have been named as Australia's golf representatives for the Rio Olympics.

Hend and Fraser have gained places following the withdrawals of Australia's top three men's players, world No.1 Jason Day, former Masters winner Adam Scott and 2015 British Open runner-up Marc Leishman.

Day and Leishman have both cited concerns around the Zika virus for their absence, while Scott pulled out over scheduling issues.

Zika is a mosquito-borne virus that can cause horrific birth defects and which the World Health Organisation says is spreading rapidly in the Americas.

The spate of top men's players withdrawing leaves Hend and Fraser, currently the 27th and 28th highest-ranked players in the field, with serious medal prospects.

Lee, at 14th, and Oh, 21st, loom as even brighter medal hopes for Australia as golf makes its return to the Olympics for the first time in 112 years.