Gidday Mr Jones

Matt Jones held off world number one Jordan Spieth and a charging Adam Scott on his home course to win the Australian Open by a stroke after a dramatic final round on Sunday.

Leading by three shots overnight, Jones gave his pursuers every chance with a double and triple bogey on the front nine, but four birdies in a two-over-par 73 proved enough for victory on eight-under-par at the Australian Golf Club.

Defending champion Spieth had a 15-foot eagle putt at the last to force a playoff but sent his ball wide of the hole and had to settle for a 71 and a share of second place with Scott.

“That was very stressful, it wasn’t comfortable out there for me,” an emotional Jones said after receiving the Stonehaven Cup for the first time. “I’ve watched the Australian Open for many years and just to have my name on that trophy is something I’ll never forget.“

Scott, still seeking his first title of the year, had surged up the leaderboard with a seven-birdie 65 to move to seven-under on another blustery day in Sydney.

His compatriot Rod Pampling had earlier sunk a 60-foot eagle putt on the 18th green for a course record 10-under 61, which was good enough for fourth on six-under.

Pampling’s stunning score bettered the 63 Spieth carded to win the title last year, a final round that had given the American high hopes he could overhaul Jones’s overnight lead.

The 35-year-old Australian dropped three shots by going bogey-double bogey on the first two holes but Spieth also bogeyed them and the final group dropped back towards the chasing pack.

Jones recovered with birdies at the fourth and sixth but a calamitous triple bogey at the ninth after hitting the trees and plunging into the water saw him drop to six-under, level with clubhouse leader Pampling.

Spieth drained an eight-foot downhill putt on the 11th to also move to six-under and Scott, ahead on the 14th, joined him to make it a four-way tie for the lead.

The American’s parity was short-lived and another visit to the greenside sand saw him bogey the 12th just before Jones brilliantly chipped in from a bunker to save par.

Jones inched ahead on seven-under with his third birdie at the par-five 14th, which Spieth matched to rejoin Pampling and Scott in second place.

Another fine approach shot to the 18th, which he eagled on Saturday to keep his title hopes alive, saw Scott birdie the last to move back to the top of the leaderboard with Jones.

Jones birdied the 16th to move a shot ahead again, however, and he held his nerve despite finding the trees twice on the 17th to clinch the Stonehaven Cup with a short par putt on the final green. 

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Chalmers Holds Off Tiger in Oz Open

Australian Greg Chalmers earned a one-shot win at the Australian Open on Sunday, 13 years after his previous victory at the event.

The Sydney-born left-hander closed with a three-under 69 for a final total of 13-under-par, one better than overnight leader John Senden and two ahead of a charging Tiger Woods.

Chalmers birdied his opening two holes at the Lakes Golf Club and added a third at the seventh, immediately bouncing back from his first bogey at the previous hole.

Another dropped shot at the ninth menat he went to the turn in 34 but that was only a minor setback as two more birdies, including the clincher at the par-three 15th followed by three closing pars, ensured the 38-year-old walked away with the title.

Senden, playing in the last group with Jason Day, needed to birdie the par-three 18th to force a play-off but could only manage par.

The damage, however, had really been done on the front nine when Senden's run of four bogeys in five holes from the second saw him lose the lead to Chalmers.

He hauled himself back into contention with birdies at the 11th, 13th, 14th, and 17th but in the end his level-par 72 saw hime come up just short of a repeat of his 2006 victory in this event.

Woods revival

Former world number one Woods, meanwhile, compiled a 67 including five birdies and an eagle to finish alone in third at 11-under-par.

Woods, searching for his first title for two years, had led the tournament at the halfway stage before falling off the pace with a third-round 75.

But the American finished strongly to ensure he has plenty of positives to take into next week's Presidents Cup in Melbourne.

Another who will head to the Presidents Cup in good heart is Geoff Ogilvy after he produced the low round of the day on Sunday, a seven-under 65, to take a share of fourth alongside four others.

Ogilvy's fellow Australians Day (74), Nick O'Hern (72), Adam Scott (68), and American Nick Watney (72) all finished on nine-under-par overall.

Tiger Leads at Australian Open

Tiger Woods has moved into the lead at the Australian Open after finishing his second-round with a five-under-par 67 to move to nine under in total.

The former world No 1, now down at 58th in the rankings, carded seven birdies and two bogeys as he finished a shot ahead of Peter O'Malley out of the early finishers.

"I played well today," Woods said. "I could have been a little lower over my first nine holes. I felt like I really didn't miss a shot. Even though I shot five under today, it felt like it easily could have been eight or nine deep.

"It feels good, but it feels good to actually be there playing properly instead of slashing the ball all over the place."

Starting at the 10th with a birdie, Woods picked up four more shots on the back nine before making his first bogey of the tournament at the third.

He responded immediately with a 25-foot putt at the fourth but another dropped shot at the sixth left him needing to again bounce back, which he did with a stunning 280-yard approach which rolled onto the eighth green to set up birdie.

O'Malley birdied three of the four par-fives on his way to a bogey-free 66 and his fellow Australian, Woods' playing partner Jason Day, was a shot further back on seven under after a four-under-par 68 today.

First-round leader Jarrod Lyle struggled to one-over for his round after 12 holes to trail by three, with Matthew Jones and Nick Watney in the clubhouse as part of a group at five under which also included James Nitties, after nine holes, and Matthew Millar through eight.

Lyle Leads Woods in Australia

Tiger Woods, the former world No 1, played his first bogey-free round in nine months on the opening day of the Australian Open where he trails leader Jarrod Lyle by three shots.

Cancer survivor Lyle held off a powerful American contingent, including Woods , to card a seven-under 65 in an unblemished round that included an eagle three at the 14th and five birdies.

Lyle, who must go through qualifying school next month to avoid playing in the secondary Nationwide Tour next season after losing his tour card with a 161st finish on the money list, was pursued by Americans, Dustin Johnson and Nick Watney, a shot back on 66.

Woods, who has not won a tournament for two years precipitating a slump in his world ranking to 58, wrestled with gusty afternoon winds to keep in touch, three shots off the lead.

His 68, which included four birdies, was his first bogey-free round in nine months.

"I hit it really good today, that was exactly how I have been hitting it at home, so that's good and I've taken it to the golf course in these conditions and hit all the shots," Woods said.

"I just grinded, I was very patient all day and just took advantage when I could.

"With these conditions it's easy to make a couple of bogeys in a row and get it going the wrong way and I just had to be patient, there wasn't going to be a lot of guys in the afternoon hitting 60s."

World No 5 Johnson, at the Australian Open for next week's Presidents Cup as the top-ranked American player, hit eight birdies in his six-under round.

"I made a lot of good putts, some tap-ins and some three-four footers, and I played really solid all day and made some great iron shots," said Johnson, who reeled off five consecutive birdies from the 12th hole.

"I was a little rusty at the start, it was the first time I've been in competition for five-six weeks now, but then got it going pretty well."

Watney carded five birdies in his closing six holes in the afternoon to finish with an impressive six-under.

Lyle, 30, who finished only once in the top 10 on this year's US PGA Tour, carded an unblemished round that included an eagle three at the 14th and five birdies.

"That's the lowest score I've shot all year, I've played solid all year, but just haven't achieved anything," Lyle said.

Former US Masters champion Fred Couples, who will be the non-playing captain of the US team at next week's Presidents Cup teams event against the Internationals at Royal Melbourne, was among a quartet on five-under 67, two shots off the lead.

Couples, 52, who has 53 tournament victories in his 30 years as a professional, carded six birdies and a bogey playing with his US team assistant John Cook, who had a 69.

World No 17 Bubba Watson, another member of next week's US team, chimed in with a four-under 68 with an eagle, five birdies and three bogeys.

Australian Adam Scott, who said he didn't make a putt in his three-under 69, hit a spectacular albatross two at the par-five eighth when he holed a six-iron from 199 metres.

It was only his second career albatross or three-under-par-shot since his junior days.

Compatriot and world No 7 Jason Day had five birdies and two bogeys playing with Woods to be equal 16th with Scott at three-under.

Daly Does Wild Thing Down Under

American golfer John Daly has made an embarrassing exit from the Australian Open after walking off the course part way through the first round.

Two-time major winner Daly quit after hitting six balls into the water from the 11th tee at The Lakes Golf Club.

The American then shook hands with playing partner Craig Parry before walking off the course.

"I would say this is the last time we see John Daly at this tournament," said tournament director Trevor Herden.

"I'm extremely bitter and disappointed. It's becoming a bit of a habit."

Daly, 45, also walked off during his second round at the Austrian Open at Atzenbrugg in late September following a rules infringement. On a previous visit to the Australian Open in 2008, he smashed a spectator's camera.

On this occasion, he was penalised two shots at the 10th hole for hitting the wrong ball out of a bunker, leaving him seven over for the round approaching the 11th.

Daly later tweeted: "When you run out of balls, you run out of balls. Yes I shook my playing partner's hands and signed my card with [the] rules official."

But Herden said running out of golf balls was no excuse for quitting in the middle of a round.

He added: "If you run out of golf balls and are acting in a professional manner, you would call the course officials and we would replenish his stock."

Daly, nicknamed 'Wild Thing', continues to attract invitations to tournaments around the world despite failing to win a title since 2004.

The big-hitting American won the 1991 US PGA Championship in Carmel, Indiana after finding out he would be playing just the day before the tournament.

He won the Open Championship in 1995 and has rarely been out of the headlines since - as much for his struggles with alcohol, gambling and relationship problems as for his golf.

The PGA of Australia said it had withdrawn Daly's invitation to the 24-27 November Australian PGA Championship at Coolum and said he would receive no appearance fee for either tournament.

"The PGA does not need this kind of behaviour tarnishing the achievements of other players and the reputation of our tournaments. John is not welcome at Coolum," Australian PGA chief executive Brian Thorburn said.