Three birdies in four holes from the 11th steadied the round before a bogey at the 17th pushed him back over par and he needed a sixth birdie at the last to finish back where he started.
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Scott teed off for the third round this morning with playing partner Pan Cheng-tsung of Taiwan, almost 2 1/2 hours before the leading groups that included defending champion Spieth.
The world number one laboured in Sydney to a level-par 71, and was five shots off the pace set by 26-year-old Australian Lincoln Tighe.
Former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy coped better with the shifting wind and sweltering heat than most of the more feted golfers, recording a 68 for a share of third with Taiwanese amateur Yu Chun-An and compatriot Todd Sinnott.
“You’ve got to expect to battle and to be tight and for Matt to be up there as a tough guy to chase”.
“After yesterday’s round I probably had a little bit of confidence the way I struck the ball and went out there with that confidence today and managed to shoot three under”, Jones said.
The US PGA Tour stars will tee off in the final group in what shapes as a thrilling climax to the 100th Australian Open.
Having signed for a 4-under 67 on day one, Jones was again in fine form, sinking four birdies on his way home but blemished by two bogeys.
“So I am going to give it everything I can as I would love to have my name on that trophy alongside the likes of (Jack) Nicklaus, Norman and it would be awesome”.
And hometown favourite Adam Scott failed to record a single birdie in a score of 73 for a two over par tally, but remains inside the four over cut off mark. “I’m very involved in each shot. Even if I up-and-down it, starting tomorrow at one over, unless they come back, I’m pretty much done”. And I ended up two clubs off, thinking the wind was helping when it was actually hurting. You can just look at the stats, I was so far down the putting that it doesn’t matter how good you hit it, you’re going to struggle to beat guys like Jason, Jordan and Rory when they’re not putting that badly or hitting it that badly.
Arizona-based Jones, 35, joined the Australian Club as a 15-year old and named Greg Norman and Tiger Woods as his inspiration for pursuing the title.
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“I played with Matt (Jones) in the practice round and his brother Brett”.
