Five months is a long time in golf. Just ask Matt Jones.
Back in October the two-time Australian Open champion penned an exclusive column for Australian Golf Digest, revealing his time on tour was coming to an end after he turned 40 during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“Now that I’m 40, I’m in the back half of my career on the PGA Tour, I’m sure. That’s something my wife, Melissa, and I have talked about. At what age would you retire? At what age would you think about doing that so you can still be there for your kids?” he wrote.
Those conversations may now be put on the backburner courtesy of a cheque for $US1.2 million, an invite to the Masters and – most importantly – a two-year exemption on the world’s most lucrative tour, following his first PGA Tour victory since the 2014 Houston Open.
The fast-swinging Sydneysider cruised to five-shot victory at the notoriously tough PGA National course, thanks largely to a ball-striking clinic he put on using the same set of irons he wielded in Houston seven years ago.
Asked if he now intended to shelve those retirement plans, Jones laughed at the prospect of what was to come.
“It opens up a lot for me tournament-wise this year,” he says. “I’m sure it helps my World Ranking as well. I’ve spoken to Adam Scott about this – we’ve got five really good, hard years ahead of us where we think we can do something special and I think this sets me on a path where I could.”
“I’ve probably underachieved, in my opinion, for what I could have done. But I’ve got some time left. I feel like my game’s getting better as I get older. I’m hitting it better, I’m hitting it longer, so there’s nothing to say that that won’t happen.”
Tour life may very well start at 40 for Jones, who is coached by Gary Barter back home at The Australian Golf Club. He opened with a course-record tying 61 on Thursday, which gave him a three-shot lead. Then, he overcame deficits of three and six shots over the next two rounds, earning himself a three-shot lead heading into the final round. On Sunday, even after his lead shrunk to one, and even after he bricked a two-footer for par at the 14th, Jones still managed to slam the door and run away with it late, his most clutch birdie coming at the difficult par-4 16th.
And with all that, his most impressive feat might have been keeping his cheetah-like pace throughout the final round despite playing alongside J.B. Holmes, whose pace could be described as snail-like. It was not a good match for Jones, who wastes absolutely no time when he addresses the golf ball:
<5 seconds from address to impact. There are fast players, really fast players, and then there's @mattjonesgolf. pic.twitter.com/aNZNNe2onh
— Skratch (@Skratch) March 21, 2021
Aspirational stuff, especially for those of us who stand over the ball a little too long as we struggle to break 80. Jones, meanwhile, tied the course record on Thursday and then went 70-69-68 by simply pointing and shooting. It’s not fair.
To be able to stick to that strategy, on a golf course like PGA National, in the final round, with the lead, made this second career win that much sweeter than the first for the 40-year-old Jones.
“I’ve had some tough times between that [2014 Houston Open] and now,” said Jones. “Been an emotional seven years. I just worked hard, had some tough times putting, worked hard with my coach back in Australia. It’s finally paid off.
“It was probably the calmest I’ve been for a golf tournament for four straight days . You can’t get a tougher course to win on, in these conditions, so to be able to do that on this golf course is amazing and something I can build on for the future.”
That future will now include Jones’ first trip to Augusta National since … yep, you guessed it, 2014. This win will also go a long way in potentially getting him into the Tour Championship, an event he’s never reached in his entire career (he went from 60th to 11th in the FedEx Cup standings Sunday). If we want to look way down the line, perhaps Jones can allow himself to begin thinking about the 2022 Presidents Cup, which would be his first should he make the team. OK, too soon, but the fact it’s even in the discussion makes this the biggest day of Jones’ career to date. – additional reporting by Christopher Powers
