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Matt Jones will carry a three-stroke lead over lurking defending champion Jordan Spieth into Sunday’s final round of the Australian Open in Sydney.
Spieth rebounded from a horror start to reignite his title defence with a blistering back-nine charge in a third-round four-under-par 67 at The Australian Golf Club.
After dropping three shots in his first four holes, Spieth went seven under over his last 10, highlighted by a spectacular eight-iron hole-out from 165 metres for an eagle two on the par-4 17th hole.
The American world No.1 surged from even par to seven under in a fascinating two-hour stretch as Jones maintained his halfway lead with an impressive 68 to move to 10-under for the tournament.
The US PGA Tour stars will tee off in the final group in what shapes as a thrilling climax to the 100th Australian Open.
Rhein Gibson (68) is five shots off the lead in outright third with Lincoln Tighe (70) and Aron Price (70) equal fourth and six adrift of the lead.
Former champion Geoff Ogilvy (71) is at three under, while Adam Scott is all but out of contention for the Stonehaven Cup despite carding a 68 on Saturday.
Scott eagled the last hole to join Brett Rumford (69) and Northern Irishman Darren Clarke (70) and Todd Sinnott (74) at one under and among just 10 players in red figures.
Jones mixed six birdies with three bogeys to stay in control, but he will likely have a restless night’s sleep knowing Spieth is on his tail.
Bidding to become the first international player since the legendary Jack Nicklaus in 1970 to win back-to-back Open crowns, Spieth at one point trailed Jones by eight shots.
Now the 22-year-old Masters and US Open champion will be favoured to kick on after he won last year’s championship with a course-record final round of 63.
Victorian Anthony Brown provided an early third-round highlight with a hole in one.
Brown’s beautifully struck five iron on the 198-metre second hole lit up the Open on an otherwise gloomy morning at The Australian.
But the 33-year-old’s sixth ace of his career failed to ignite his round as he finished with a three-over 74 to be seven over for the championship, a distant 17 shots behind Jones.