Matt Jones wins Australian Open as Spieth, Scott come up a shot short
Matt Jones entered the final round of the Australian Open with a three-shot lead over Jordan Spieth.
Then Jones played the first two holes on Sunday in 3 over par, and the 100th edition of Australia’s biggest golf tournament got much more interesting.
However, in the end, Jones played 1-under golf the rest of the way, sinking a 4-foot par putt on the last hole to secure his first Australian Open title. Jones, who is a member at the host Australian Golf Club, shot 2-over 73 to post 8-under 276, good enough for a one-stroke win over Spieth, who shot even-par 71, and a surging Adam Scott, who finished with 65.
Rod Pampling finished alone in fourth after shooting a course-record, 10-under 61, beating the mark that the defending champion Spieth set in last year’s final round with a 63. Pampling finished two behind Jones.
After starting 3 over through the first two holes, Jones made birdies on the fourth and sixth holes. However, he turned in 4 over par after making a triple-bogey 7 on the ninth. The Aussie played a clean back nine, never losing at least a share of the lead, even as Pampling finished well ahead of the final groups.
The key shot in the round came on the 12th, after Jones hit his tee shot well right and his second shot ricocheted off a tree he was trying to hit past. Following his third landing in a greenside bunker, Jones holed out for par from the sand. From there, Jones made a pair of birdies to hold the edge.
On the par-5 18th, Jones dropped his club in disgust, thinking his third shot had landed short in the water hazard guarding the green. However, it found the putting surface, leaving a long two-putt for the win. Jones cautiously putted to nearly within the length of his putter. The winning putt almost slipped by on the left, but Jones kept it enough on line to make par and win.
”I got the job done, but there was a lot of stress and anxious moments,” Jones said. ”A lip-in putt on the last to get the win. That bunker shot on 12 was probably the biggest thing because I knew I had some birdies left.”
Spieth agreed the 12th, where he made bogey, was the key moment.
”We’re the ones who had the most holes remaining so we control it,” he said, “and for him to go back to whatever he was, 1 or 2 up on me at the time there, was really kind of a game changer.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
