Sydney’s Matthew Jones has today elevated his standing and profile in Australian golf to a whole new level by winning his first professional event in Australia and just his second overall at the completion of a dramatic final day at The Emirates Australian Open at The Australian Golf Club in Sydney.
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He held the top ranking for 11 weeks until August of a year ago, and entered the Australian Open this week ranked No. 12.
He smashed the previous course record of 63 at The Australian set by Spieth during the final round a year ago while winning the Open by six strokes, when Pampling was runner-up.
Spieth had the chance to force a playoff but missed a four-metre eagle putt on the last before Jones coolly holed his metre-long par putt to clinch his first big win on home soil.
Overnight leader Jones watched Spieth’s eagle shot from the 16th tee and responded by birdying his final two holes to card a three-under-par 68, moving to 10-under for the tournament and finishing three strokes clear of his American rival.
The golfer most in Australia were watching for at this tournament, Adam Scott, turned around his game somewhat today, carding a 3-under-68 to move into a 4-way tie for 7th at minus-1.
That he did, shooting 2-under 34 on the back nine, while Scott and Spieth came up short in their attempts to overtake him. “To go up against the number one in the world is going to be a lot of fun”, said Jones, a member of the host club and victor of a single US PGA title.
He ultimately finished in fourth after his course-record round.
“I left myself with a little bit of work to do there on 17, but anytime you want to put yourself in a position to win, you’ve got to make some putts”, Scott said. When former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy’s challenge faded after dropping three shots on the last two holes to finish on one-under-par, the 31-year-old from Adelaide secured his second appearance in The Open after making his Major Championship debut in The Open at Royal Lytham in 2012.
“Not really, I could have given him one though (for) getting wet on the 14th”, he said, referring to the fact Williams didn’t have an umbrella ready when a brief shower hit the course.
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“I don’t know if it will be good enough, but I think that I’ll peak tomorrow”. I’ve played enough rounds of golf with him where he makes those putts.
