Jordan Spieth toils in opening round of the Australian Open

Matt Jones retains a three-stroke advantage midway through his third round of the Australian Open in Sydney. He was one of only 18 in the 156-player field to break par at The Australian Golf Club.

A “flat” and exhausted Adam Scott shot a 2-over 73 at the Australian Open on Friday, a round that allowed him to make the cut but likely did little to help him end his 2015 victory drought.

Spieth had commenced his round bogeying three of his opening four holes to fall eight shots adrift of Jones but then ignited his drive to the top with birdies at five and six.

Todd Sinnott climbed to third at four under overall through 16 holes of his round, while big-hitting Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts has carded the best round of the morning, a 66, to claim a share of fourth at three under.

Asked if he’d practice in the afternoon, he replied: “No, I’ve played plenty of golf, I’ll just go home”.

“I mean, of course I’ve thought about it but it would be fantastic”.

Matt Jones lines up a putt on the fifth green during day three of the Australian Open. “I just didn’t know what to hit and I ended up two clubs off, thinking the wind was helping when it was actually hurting”.

Adam Scott looked on the job early until the Queenslander made a mess of the ninth hole, catching his greenside bunker shot too heavy and putting in the water. “Conditions were tough but I still could have found the fairways”.

“It was obviously quite a fortunate break on the 17th to go in”, Spieth said.

The U.S. Masters and U.S. Open champion was, however, reasonably happy with how he had managed to rescue a par round despite his errant driving. “I’m just happy to be playing on the PGA Tour and keep doing what I’m doing”.

It helped Spieth glide his way to an eventual round of 67, or four under par for a seven under par total.

Senior, 56, who rolled back the years to win the Australian Masters last week, said: “It was a awful round”.

The 22-year-old narrowly missed an eagle putt at the last after a superb approach shot but tapped in for birdie, giving himself every chance of back-to-back titles in Sunday’s final round.

Although conditions were markedly calmer than on Thursday, when temperatures soared and gusts of wind swirled across the fairways at the Australian Golf Club, good scores were still at a premium.