Out of the eighth-to-last pairing, World No. 104 Matt Jones tossed up an 11-under-par 33-29=62 in R3 of the Sentry Tournament of Champions, climbing 11 places to T4 on 20-under 199, six short of co-leaders Cameron Smith and Jon Rahm.
The 41-year-old, making his second appearance, first since a T11 in 2015 (69-72-68-69), was 3-under thru 11 holes (3 birdies) before ripping off a birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie, par, birdie, eagle run to cross the finish line. On 10 (of 15) fairways and 17 greens in regulation, he actually lost 0.291 strokes w/ the flat stick, but gained 1.384 off-the-tee, 1.538 on approach, 3.080 around, and 6.002 tee-to-green. The Aussie, who opened with 70-67, is now bogey-free for his last 46 holes, has just one blemish thus far, a double bogey-5 at hole 8 in R1, and was buoyed today by eagles at 14 (chip-in from 49'5" away) and 18 (fringe-shot from 19'1"). He’ll play out of the penultimate twosome on Sunday with Daniel Berger, and is vying for his third TOUR win in 350 events, first since a five-shot version at last season’s Honda Classic 20 starts ago, where he was the 54-hole leader by three. (61-70-69-68). See link below for post-round comments.