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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Bidding to become the first worldwide player since the legendary Jack Nicklaus in 1976 to win back-to-back Open crowns, Spieth at one point trailed Jones by eight shots before setting up what shapes as a grandstand finish to the 100th Open.
Spieth was three over par for his first six holes after two opening bogeys and another at the sixth, while Jones opened with a bogey and a double-bogey to also find himself three over for the day after a couple of holes.
Spieth, Scott and Jones traded the lead down the stretch Sunday, with the 2014 Shell Houston Open champion this time locking down his national open and a trip to the Open Championship. From there, Jones made a pair of birdies to hold the edge.
The home favourite waited another nailbiting half hour to see if Jones would slip up.
Pampling shot a 10 under the card 61 for the day beating the coarse record by two strokes.
Pampling came through The Open Qualifying Series at the Emirates Australian Open a year ago to secure his place at the 144TH Open at St Andrews. “On the weekend you’d like to start off your rounds and be able to gain some momentum and I just didn’t get anything at the beginning, ” he said.
“It hasn’t quite sunk in yet”, Pampling 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. Pampling started his round 14 shots off the lead and finished as the clubhouse leader at 6-under.
The victor of at least one tournament every year since 2001, Scott said he failed to take advantage of better scoring conditions and softer greens on The Australian Golf Club course.
“It’s frustrating to only shoot even par when I feel like my game was certainly ready to shoot a three, four, five under round”.
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“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.
