Jones and Spieth in Australian Open duel

Jones’ playing partner Todd Sinnott retained outright second spot at four under four holes into his third round, with Aron Price one shot further back and Geoff Ogilvy, Rhein Gibson and defending champion Jordan Spieth all at two under.

“I watched (Greg) Norman win it and (Adam) Scott win in it. I’ve been close before and tomorrow I’m going to do all I can to put my name on the trophy alongside (Jack) Nicklaus and Norman and those guys”.

Jones, a member at The Australian Golf Club, had a 7-under 135 total on a course that was playing only slightly easier a day after brutal wind and heat sent scores soaring.

Bidding to become the first global player since the legendary Jack Nicklaus in 1970 to win back-to-back Open crowns, Spieth at one point trailed Jones by eight shots.

Tighe, the world No. 1022 from Wollongong in NSW, shocked the golfing world with his sizzling five-under 66 in the opening round as Spieth laboured to a 71.

While the day ended well for Spieth, he first endured a rollercoaster front nine that included four bogeys – three of them in the first four holes – and three birdies. “You’ve got to hit quality shots and wait for your moments and if you hit a few poor ones, it gets pretty tough on a lot of the holes out there”.

Spieth is three under for the championship after squeezing everything out of his round.

Scott drilled a 180-metre five iron to four metres and drained the treacherous downhill putt to surge from one over to under par in the blink of an eye.

“So boy, it was a round that could have been and that made it so frustrating as I found myself finally getting into a nice rhythm as I was hitting fairways and giving myself opportunities but I just couldn’t quite gauge the wind”.

“It’s always good to play with him and it’ll be good to see where he is and what he’s doing”, Jones said after his round.

Matthew Jones leads the Australian Open by three strokes after the second round on Friday.

“That last hole was really tough”, added Spieth. Even though conditions were tough, I could have driven the ball better. He also missed makeable birdie putts on the 12 and 14th holes to make the turn in 1-over 37.

“The cross-winds again made it a guessing game out there today, leaving a 50-50 shot and we got less than 50 percent of them right”, he told reporters.