Local boy Matt Jones is relishing a final-round duel for the Stonehaven Cup with world No. 1 and defending champion Jordan Spieth after retaining control of the Australian Open.
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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.
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.
Australian Rhein Gibson is five shots back in third, with compatriots Aron Price and Lincoln Tighe one shot further back. Australian Adam Scott was also on level par.
Last week’s Masters champion Peter Senior was harsh on himself saying he was “ashamed and embarrassed” by his nine over 80.
There were only nine golfers under par. “It was just a guessing game really”, he said.
After a bogey-free outward 32, Spieth made birdies on the back-nine par 5s, Nos. The toughest part is deciding what shot to hit.
Spieth threw his hands in the air, high-fived his caddie, Michael Greller, then gave him a light punch in the chest.
‘I’m playing to a strategy I have, ‘ he said. “It’s two extra shots that you don’t expect”.
“And now I’m well in contention and likely in the last group, whether it’s three or four behind, it’s a lot better than I’d thought it would be after four holes”. “It will be a lot of fun”. You might not feel it in some areas where I’ll know it’s going to be there. So it’s in my hands. It was a round where I could have shot six or seven-under.
Scott eagled the last hole to join Brett Rumford (69), Northern Irishman Darren Clarke (70) and Todd Sinnott (74) at one under and among just 10 players in red figures.
“It’s huge for tomorrow”, said Scott.
The winds made scoring particularly hard on the par-3 second hole from an elevated tee – it was the toughest hole on the course Thursday. “It was a little bit of everything, but it all added up”.
“Any time you have a chance to win your own country’s Open would be fantastic”, he said. “Struggled on the greens to get a putt to the hole, found them very slow, didn’t make any good adjustments out there, so was battling all day”. After his round, Spieth wasn’t about to apologize.
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“To have something this windy, it’s been a while”, Spieth said.
