Spieth had commenced his round bogeying three of his opening four holes to fall eight shots adrift of Jones but then ignited his drive to the top with birdies at five and six.
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Adam Scott rebounded from a 73 on Friday to shoot 68, including an eagle on the 18th. But Spieth demonstrated why he is the world No. 1 on the back nine – he played it in 5-under par after three birdies and a thrilling hole-out eagle at the par-4 17th.
Another at the 14th sent him to four-under but a poor chip and a short putt at the next saw him drop his first shot of the day, a swipe of the hand in the direction of the offending ball making clear his frustration.
Spieth had a roller-coaster of a front nine in which he bogeyed three of his first four holes and birdied the next two before finishing the front nine with a bogey and a birdie – just two pars going out.
Local boy Matt Jones has control at the halfway mark of the Australian Open with defending champion Jordan Spieth’s charge stalling in yesterday’s second round.
“I struck it good and I was just hoping it was going to get up. It’s me sticking to a game plan, managing the course and just giving myself opportunities”, Jones said.
The Texan, whose success has been so recent that he has only previously defended one title, hit a course record 63 to win the tournament past year but said he would be putting memories of that brilliant round to the back of his mind on Sunday.
Although the greens have been changed over since he played regularly at The Australian, Jones has fond memories of roaming the fairways at his home club “watching golf as much I could” before leaving to attend Arizona State University.
The 35-year-old Australian has still not won in 2015 and had declared himself “fired up” to break the drought at the Australian Golf Club this week.
Jones leads by three over Spieth with another two shots back to Lismore’s (NSW) Rhein Gibson while Aron Price and first round leader, Lincoln Tighe, are another shot back and sharing 4th.
“I’ll have to have them yell during Jordan’s backswing or something”, Jones said.
‘When I finished my round I thought I’d be tied or one back, it looks now like it’s two or three shots.
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“But, two days to go, I can’t really be thinking about that now”.
