By Jay Betsill
Australian Open defending champion and current No. 1 Jordan Spieth trailed by three strokes to begin the day and fired an even-par round of 71.
Past Australian Open champion and former No. 1 Adam Scott fired a final round 65 and was the clubhouse leader for much of the afternoon.
Unfortunately, for the two former Masters champions and marquee attractions at the huge international event, they came up one stroke short of Australian Matt Jones, who finished 8-under to win at The Australian Golf Club in Sydney.
“I got the job done, but there was a lot of stress and anxious moments,” said Jones, who overcame a bogey, double-bogey and triple-bogey on the front nine to edge out two of golf superstars. “A lip-in putt on the last to get the win. That bunker shot on 12 was probably the biggest thing because I knew I had some birdies left.”
Flower Mound resident Rod Pampling broke Spieth’s course record with a 10-under 61 to finish two strokes back of Jones.
Spieth will defend next week at Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.
Scott will bypass next week’s Australian PGA to join Spieth in the limited field event in the Bahamas for his last tournament of 2015. The 35-year-old who is currently No. 12 in the world has won at least one event worldwide every year since 2001, but his last win of any kind was The Colonial in Fort Worth in 2014.
NOTES
— Charl Schwartzel won the Alfred Dunhill Championship with a four-shot victory at Leopard Creek Country Club in South Africa. The former Masters champion became the youngest South African to ten European Tour victories. Read about his win here.
