Spieth lurks at Australian Open

Jordan Spieth and Adam Scott went in opposite directions at the Australian Open on Friday while Matt Jones used home-course advantage to shoot a 3-under 68 and take a three-stroke lead after two rounds.

Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts, who is contesting his first Australian Open, is well positioned to end a three-and-a-half winless drought, posting the best round of the day, a five under par 66, to be among five players including former Australian Open victor Geoff Ogilvy (71) at three under par. “Conditions were tough but I still could have found the fairways”.

Starting his defence on the back nine, Spieth reached two under by the turn but bogeys at four and nine, his closing hole, pegged him back.

Another at the 14th sent him to four-under but a poor chip and a short putt at the next saw him drop his first shot of the day, a swipe of the hand in the direction of the offending ball making clear his frustration.

“I had some really tough up-and-downs but managed to salvage par”, he said.

“So I think I’ll get some rest”, he added. If you give me 100 balls, I’ll get down in two 95 times from where I was.

Matt Jones put local knowledge to good use to snare the clubhouse lead after his second round of the Australian Open in Sydney.

The 22-year-old American missed an eagle putt of about 35 feet on the 18th, but made his birdie to place him a good position for the weekend.

“Yesterday was tiring and this was my sixth event in the last eight weeks”, he said. “If there was no wind, I could have gone out and shot three over today – that’s how golf is”.

After struggling in a group with Australian former U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy (68) and British former world number one Lee Westwood (70), Spieth said he did not think he would be too far off the pace once the round finished.

Jordan Spieth believes his best golf is yet to come at the Australian Open in Sydney.

“That last hole was really tough as 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”, he said. “It’ll be fun to be out there on the weekend with a lot of friends and family and members from this course out there”.

Tighe, who showed he was a player on the way up winning last year’s NSW PGA at Riverside Oaks with a barnstorming closing 64, made light of the conditions with six birdies in his round.