Around the wider world of golf: Charl Schwartzel became the first South African to win the same European Tour event four times at the Alfred Dunhill Championship; Jung-Gon Hwang won the Casio World Open on the Japan Golf Tour; Xi-Yu Lin successfully defended her title at the Sanya Ladies Open on the LAGT/LET; Haimeng Chao won the Nine Dragons Open on the PGA TOUR China; and Jiyai Shin won the JLPGA Tour Championship Ricoh Cup (bangkokbobby has details).
To paraphrase an old commercial, Matt Jones earned his title at the Emirates Australian Open the old-fashioned way...
He EARNED it. (You're supposed to really stretch out the word EARNED but I have no idea how to make that readable.)
After coming in to the final round at -10, with a 3-stroke lead over his closest competitor, he proceeded to post a bogey, a double AND a triple, all on the front nine.
That gave hope to some of the players who thought they were out of the tournament. It started when Rod Pampling went absolutely nuts, shooting a course-record 10-under 61 to post at -6. That got everybody's attention!
Then Adam Scott shot a 6-under 65 to post at -7 as Jones struggled just to get back to par.
At least playing partner and defending champion Jordan Spieth cooperated with his golf buddy. Spieth had to work just to post a par round himself -- although he did give himself an eagle putt on 18 to force a birdie from Jones if he wanted to make a playoff.
Alas, it was not to be. Jordan could only make birdie himself, posting a par round which put him at -7 as well.
But Matt Jones would not be denied. Despite all his problems he managed to birdie that final hole for a 2-over round... and a final score of -8. Oh yes, Matt earned it.
It's only Matt's second worldwide win -- he does have a PGA Tour win, the 2014 Shell Houston Open -- but this is by far his biggest, especially since it's his national Open. It got him a berth in next year's Open Championship and will likely vault him into the OWGR Top50, which should get him into the other majors. But bear in mind that this event launched its last two winners -- Rory McIlroy in 2013 and Jordan last year -- into years that were mind-numbing in their dominance. Could it do the same for Matt Jones?
I don't know, but it's gotten him one of the last Limerick Summaries of 2015. Those are rare at this point!
Down under, Jones came out on top.The photo came from this tournament summary page at pga.org.au.
He beat Spieth and Pampling and Scott
With a four at the end.
Spieth had hoped to extend
The match just one more hole. (He could not.)
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