The Australian carded a three-under 67 to be sharing sixth place, four shots behind local leader Hiroshi Iwata.

Iwata had a one-stroke lead over Joaquin Niemann of Chile and Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama on the 7,041-yard Narashino Country Club course.

Tokyo Olympics gold medal winner Xander Schauffele shot 70, as did Rickie Fowler, who is playing on a sponsor's exemption for the second straight year.

Open champion Collin Morikawa shot 71.

Defending champion Patrick Cantlay is taking the rest of the year off and is not playing in what has turned out to be the only PGA tournament on the Asia swing.

Jones is the only Aussie in the field which features only three of the world's top-20.xanderÂ