Matt Jones retains Australian Open lead

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.

World number one Spieth dropped three shots over his first four holes, but went seven-under over his last 10 to close the gap to the leader.

Adam Scott rebounded from a 73 on Friday to shoot 68, including an eagle on the 18th.

The highlight of Spieth’s round was a hole-out eagle on the par-4 17th, which led into a birdie at the par-5 finisher to cap off a back-nine 31.

There was more tension to follow, though, with Spieth giving himself a 15-foot eagle putt on the last to force a playoff.

Three Open Championship starts were available for the leading three players inside the top ten this week who were not already exempt for the Open Championship and those spots went to Jones, Cullen and Rod Pampling.

As the TV announcers noted, his shot was on the flag the entire way, and you could tell from Spieth’s body language while the ball was in the air that he really liked it. Pampling said of trumping the course record of 63 by Spieth a year ago.

“I got the job done, but there was a lot of stress and anxious moments”, Jones said.

“At four-over to start the day and catching a chunk of bark with a four iron on the first I thought “I just can’t get anything going”, Pampling said of his 10-under-par round.

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.

Spieth drained an eight-foot downhill putt on the 11th to also move to six-under and Scott, ahead on the 14th, joined him to make it a four-way tie for the lead.

Jones picked up another shot on the 16th, however, and managed to hold his nerve despite finding the trees on the 17th to clinch the trophy with a short par putt on the final green.

Spieth’s 67 was the best round of the day and put him on seven-under, two shots better than Rhein Gibson (68) with two other Australians, Lincoln Tighe (70) and Aron Price (70), in a share of fourth on four-under.

At the Australian Open alone, a pair of horror bogeys in the first round meant he needed four birdies on the back nine to salvage par and he made the cut despite a second round in which he failed to once beat par.

“I’m in the British Open so hopefully I can win that one”, he said.