OPEN WRAP: Hard keeping up with the Jones boy

BY BRENDAN JAMES at THE AUSTRALIAN GC

There’s only one player in the field for this week’s Emirates Australian Open who has a permanent locker at The Australian Golf Club. And he just happens to be leading the Championship.

Matt Jones, a member of the Kensington course since he was a 15-year-old junior and senior pennant player for the club, takes a three stroke lead into the weekend after complementing his opening round 67 with a solid 68 to be seven under.

Matt Jones plays a bunker shot on the 4th hole during round two.
PHOTO: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images.

Starting his round from the 10^th, Jones bagged birdies at 13^th, 14^th and 16^th before giving one back at the difficult par-4 17^th. He bounced back with a birdie on the reachable par-5 18th hole. A bogey at the par-3 2nd hole was offset by a birdie on the par-5 5^th hole and came at a time when he was struggling to find the fairway.

He only hit five of 14 fairways in his round but there were no bad misses. He still gave himself plenty of opportunities to make birdies but admitted later he struggled with the speed of the greens, which had been softened by some showers overnight.

“Today wasn’t quite as good ball-striking wise,” Jones said. “I’m very happy to shoot three under but can’t get greedy … it was a good score today. I think that’s about what I should have shot … I didn’t really leave anything out there.”

While much has been made in the press tent of his roots to the host course, but Jones isn’t so sure he has that much of an advantage despite being a favourite son at the club for nearly two decades.

Jones says his knowledge of the current course at The Australia is limited to about eight rounds.
PHOTO: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images.

“I would say on the old golf course definitely would have been a lot more (of an advantage),” Jones said. “But these greens are totally new to me. I’ve only played – I missed the cut last year, so I’ve probably played eight rounds of golf on this golf course since I’ve been here.

“I don’t come back here and play. If I do come back I’ll practice. I’ll be on the range with my coach Gary (Barter), who works here.”

He said the only benefit he really has is knowing the playing lines and some of the fickle winds that seem to catch other players out.

“To that extent, I do know the golf course,” Jones said. “I’m comfortable with lines of the tees and that.

“I’d say more so the local knowledge would come with the wind and understanding how heavy it can be from certain areas. You might not feel it in some areas where I’ll know it’s going to be there.

“The greens are completely different to what I grew up on here, different grass, a lot of different breaks.”

LEADERBOARD  | ROUND 3 TEE TIMES

Jones was a rising amateur star when he played pennants for The Australian back in mid-90s. Back then, he can recall seeing the black and white photos of past Australian Open Champions hanging on the clubhouse wall and dreaming of one day get his name on the Stonehaven Cup.

“I’ve been in this clubhouse since I was 15, so I’ve seen all those photos and it’s pretty cool to look at,” said Jones, who has been living in the United States since he went to university there as an 18-year-old.

“To have my name on the trophy alongside all those great golfers would be amazing. It’s fun to think about but now I’ve got to go and execute and do it.”

Todd Sinnott joins Jones as the only players to break par in both rounds of the Championship.
PHOTO: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images.

Jones leads big-hitting Todd Sinnott by two strokes. The Victorian, who is nearing the end of his rookie year as a professional, had a solid one under 70 to move to four under.

The 22-year-old returned home to play the Open after missing his European Tour card at Qualifying School last week and he is happy with the way he has bounced back from that disappointment.

“Finals at Q-school was disappointing but again, you’ve got opportunities here at the end of the year,” Sinnott said. “Yeah, it’s just a good opportunity to play well against some of the best players in the world.”

Two of those players – World No.1 and defending champion Jordan Spieth as well as 2010 Australian Open winner Geoff Ogilvy – are lurking just one stroke back.

“It’s pretty cool,” Sinnott said. “I suppose I’m young but Spieth’s younger but watching what Spieth did this year winning two Majors and having one of the best years ever basically, it’s pretty cool to be contending against him and hopefully competing against him over the last couple of days.”

Spieth fought hard to stay within reach of Jones and Sinnott. He scrambled well and confessed later he could have been three shots worse heading into the weekend.

“I did get up and down quite a bit,” Speith said. “It was the worst position the ball could have been for how I struck the ball but I certainly could have shot worse had my short game not been there, especially on that front nine.

“I shot three under on the front nine, it very easily could have been even par, we really held in there nicely with up and downs.

“I really only one or two bad swings the entire day; yesterday I was full of them and today I really only had a couple, which is nice and part of that’s the 30 mile an hour breeze yesterday and less today but it’s almost there and it feels really good.

Jordan Spieth reacts after hitting his second shot on the 16th hole .
PHOTO: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images.

“It feels like I’m starting to – if you’re driving the ball well out here, you can shoot under par and that’s what we’re starting to do.”

In an ominous warning to those sharing the leaderboard with the young American, he said he believes he has a low round still to come in this Championship.

“I think there is (a low round to come),” he said. “I haven’t really looked much at the forecast.

“Right now I think the goal is going to be to try and shoot 10 under on the weekend and I think that should be good enough.

“There’s just not that many birdie chances and so in order for me to do that, I think I’ll make enough birdies, it’s a matter of really making no bogeys and you don’t have to make bogeys out here. You can hit it in spots where you can make an easy up and down.”

Speith shares third place with four others – Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts (66), Sydneysider Aron Price (68), Ogilvy (71) and first round leader Lincoln Tighe (73).

A tired Adam Scott misses a putt on the 7th hole.
PHOTO: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images.

There are only 13 players in red figures heading into the weekend, and one of those still fighting to get under par is Adam Scott.

He is tied 34^th after a second round 73, featuring two bogies and 16 pars, which has him at two over, nine shots adrift of Jones. Scott’s ball-striking was a little off all day, which he later attributed to being fatigued after being on course in the first round for five hours in 39 degree heat. He gave himself only a few close range birdie chances and made none of them. His 34 putts for the round, arguably, looks worse on paper than it really was.

“I hit a couple of good shots but it just wasn’t … nothing was feeling that great down the line today; just didn’t have the eye in,” Scott said.

“Yesterday was tiring and this is my sixth event out of the last eight weeks and getting out of bed at four o'clock this morning, I wasn’t springing out of bed.

“And then I just misjudged the pace of the greens for most of the day. I just couldn’t get myself to hit the putt hard enough and when the greens slow down I tend to struggle and I did again today.”