Matt Jones clings on and delivers

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. The results haven’t shown it, but I really enjoy playing The Open.

Defending champion Spieth had a 15-foot eagle putt at the last to force a playoff but sent his ball wide of the hole and had to settle for a 71, giving him a share of second place with Scott.

Veteran Rod Pampling finished a gallant fourth, two shots behind Jones, after firing a spectacular course-record 10-under 61 and sharing the lead for nearly two hours late on Sunday.

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. After sleeping on a three-stroke advantage, Jones’ nerves almost got the better of him, but the Aussie collected the hardware at The Australian Golf Club in Rosebery today.

“To win majors, I’d have to play a lot better than I did today”.

Like Jones, the Australian Open was the first win of the year for both Spieth and McIlroy and in their cases, they used their Sydney success as the launch pad for spectacular following seasons, both winning two major championships. “To go up against the number one in the world is going to be a lot of fun”, said Jones, a member of the host club and victor of a single US PGA title. I’m absolutely ecstatic to get back to The Open.

“I made a couple of bad swings and a couple of bad decisions”, Spieth said.

“So to completely rebound with that birdie on five was key as that settled me down so much as it was fantastic golf from there on”.

Spieth’s strong finish left him closer than he had expected to be after that nightmare start, though he admitted he had been hoping for more after the eagle-birdie finish, only to see Jones pick up shots on the last two holes as well.

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.

“It was one of the great fightbacks I’ve had”.

“I don’t know if it will be good enough, but I think that I’ll peak tomorrow”.