Matt Jones is the 2015 Australian Open champion, producing his biggest tournament triumph on home soil at the club where he played pennant golf as a teenager, The Australian.
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Pampling opened with a bogey but then recorded nine birdies – including 2s on three of the four par-3s on the course – and an eagle.
World number one Jordan Spieth was much improved on day three of the Australian Open as he climbed up to second place.
Adam Scott also lead briefly after finishing the course with a birdie, he recorded 65 for the day but in the end fell short, not quite close enough to the leaders at the start of the final round for his quality performance to give him a win.
“I could have let it slip and let it get away easily but I fought it out, ground it out and that’s something I can use for later on down the road”.
Pampling then topped it all off, sinking a huge eagle putt on the last to finish with a 10-under 61 to set the clubhouse lead at 6-under.
It had looked like being a third day of frustration for Spieth in the crosswinds at the Australian Golf Club, especially after he dropped shots at three of his first four holes.
“I’m playing to a strategy I have”, he said.
“I tried hard not to think about that this week and you never know what sort of day you can have on the golf course as we saw with what happened over my front nine”.
In the first event of The Open Qualifying Series, the Australian trio secured their places in next year’s Championship at Royal Troon from 14-17 July 2016. On the closing half, the Sutherland shire product birdied the par-5 14th, before bagging birdies on the par-4 17th and par-5 closing hole.
Spieth chalked up three bogeys in his first four holes, punished for an errant drive on the first, finding the water on the third and failing to get up and down from a bunker on the fourth.
“There’s a couple of pretty good players out there right now so I’m just happy to be in with a chance of getting back into the British Open”.
“So what I need to do is to throw out thinking about the final round 63 I shot here in Sydney a year ago as I will now have to accept the battle will be tight as Matt (Jones) is a tough guy to chase”, he said.
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Jones, Pampling, Scott and Spieth were frequently tied for the lead over the final hour, but a birdie on the 16th put the Australian a stroke clear.
