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Matt Jones (golfer)

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Matt Jones
Jones at the 2014 Players Championship
Personal information
Full nameMatthew Paul Jones
Born (1980-04-19) 19 April 1980 (age 44)
Sydney, Australia
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight170 lb (77 kg; 12 st)
Sporting nationality Australia
ResidenceSydney, Australia
Spouse
Melissa Weber
​
(m. 2010)​
Children3
Career
CollegeArizona State University
Turned professional2001
Current tour(s)LIV Golf
PGA Tour of Australasia
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Nationwide Tour
Professional wins4
Highest ranking41 (6 April 2014)[1]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour2
PGA Tour of Australasia2
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT26: 2021
PGA ChampionshipT21: 2015
U.S. OpenT65: 2021
The Open ChampionshipT30: 2015

Matthew Paul Jones (born 19 April 1980) is an Australian professional golfer who plays on LIV Golf. Previously he played on the PGA Tour where he won twice, in the 2014 Shell Houston Open and The Honda Classic in 2021. Jones has also won the Emirates Australian Open twice, in 2015 and 2019.

Amateur career

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Jones was born in Sydney. He later moved to the United States to attend Arizona State University where he was a first-team All-American. He turned professional in 2001.

Professional career

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Jones joined the Nationwide Tour in 2004, but did not have a break-out year until 2007. After having only a combined 8 top-10 finishes in his first three seasons between 2004 and 2006, he almost matched that in one season. He had 6 top-10s in 2007, finishing second four times and losing in two playoffs. He finished 7th on the money list and qualified to play his rookie season on the PGA Tour in 2008.

In his rookie season on the PGA Tour in 2008, Jones found limited success. His best finish of the season was a tie for 4th at the Honda Classic and the Buick Open. He finished the season with $775,899, but did not finish inside the top 125 on the money list, leaving him with conditional status for the 2009 season. In 2009 Jones had two top-10s, both 5th-place finishes at the Buick Invitational and at the John Deere Classic. At the six-round PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament in December 2009, where the top 25 finishers obtained their 2010 PGA Tour cards, Jones finished 3rd.

He finished fifth at the 2010 John Deere Classic and seventh at the Quail Hollow Championship. Also, he finished second at the Australian Open. His best result in 2011 was sixth at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Jones improved in the 2013 PGA Tour season. He resulted second at the Greenbrier Classic, fifth at the Wyndham Championship, sixth at the Memorial Tournament, seventh at the John Deere Classic and eighth at the BMW Championship. Later he finished sixth at the Australian Open.

In his 156th PGA Tour start, Jones got his first PGA Tour win at the 2014 Shell Houston Open, beating Matt Kuchar on the first playoff hole when he made a 42-yard chip in for a birdie. He had previously made a 46-foot putt on the 18th hole to take the match to a playoff.[2] The win also made Jones the last guaranteed entrant to the Masters and moved him to 41st in the Official World Golf Ranking. In May he finished 17th at The Players Championship.

In the 2015 PGA season, Jones finished 11th at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. At the 2015 PGA Championship, Jones led the tournament by two strokes over Jason Day at the 36-hole stage. He shot rounds of 68–65 over the first two days for a total of 11-under-par. He started the third round strongly and extended his lead to three strokes midway through the round, but ended the round poorly, dropping four strokes in his last four holes to finish five behind the 54-hole leader, Jason Day. He would end the tournament T-21.

On 29 November 2015, Jones won his first title on his home PGA Tour of Australasia, with a victory in the Emirates Australian Open, one of the three Australian majors. He held off challenges by the world number one Jordan Spieth and Adam Scott to prevail by one stroke. Jones had led by three going into the final round, but dropped three shots in his opening two holes and also carded a triple bogey on the ninth hole. But he recovered by shooting two under on the back nine for a 73 to claim victory by one stroke. The win qualified Jones for the 2016 Open Championship.

On 8 December 2019, Jones won the Emirates Australian Open for the second time.[3] With this win, he became one of 14 players, including Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Peter Thomson and Jordan Spieth, who have won the Australian Open at least twice since World War II.

In March 2021, Jones won The Honda Classic by five strokes, for his first PGA Tour victory since 2014.[4]

In January 2022, Jones finished 3rd at the Sentry Tournament of Champions at 32-under-par. He shot 62, 61 in the third and final round, a combined 23-under-par on the weekend.

In June 2022, Jones signed with LIV Golf.[5]

Personal life

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Jones is married to Melissa Weber, who represented Idaho in Miss USA 2009 and has three daughters. His brother Brett was formerly the head club professional of Due Process Stable Golf Club in Colts Neck, New Jersey but has since moved to Sydney Australia. Brett played in the 2015 PGA Championship.

Professional wins (4)

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PGA Tour wins (2)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 6 Apr 2014 Shell Houston Open 68-68-71-66=273 −15 Playoff United States Matt Kuchar
2 21 Mar 2021 The Honda Classic 61-70-69-68=268 −12 5 strokes United States Brandon Hagy

PGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2014 Shell Houston Open United States Matt Kuchar Won with birdie on first extra hole

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (2)

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Legend
Flagship events (2)
Other PGA Tour of Australasia (0)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 29 Nov 2015 Emirates Australian Open1 67-68-68-73=276 −8 1 stroke Australia Adam Scott, United States Jordan Spieth
2 8 Dec 2019 Emirates Australian Open (2) 67-65-68-69=269 −15 1 stroke South Africa Louis Oosthuizen

1Co-sanctioned by the OneAsia Tour

Playoff record

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Asian Tour playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2023 St Andrews Bay Championship Spain Eugenio Chacarra Lost to par on tenth extra hole

Nationwide Tour playoff record (0–2)

No. Year Tournament Opponents Result
1 2007 Oregon Classic United States Kyle Thompson, United States Jon Turcott Thompson won with birdie on second extra hole
2 2007 Mark Christopher Charity Classic United States Jeremy Anderson, Wales Richard Johnson Johnson won with birdie on first extra hole

Results in major championships

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Results not in chronological order in 2020.

Tournament 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Masters Tournament CUT
U.S. Open WD CUT CUT
The Open Championship T54 T30 T39 CUT
PGA Championship CUT T40 T46 T21 T79
Tournament 2019 2020 2021 2022
Masters Tournament T26
PGA Championship CUT T30 CUT
U.S. Open CUT CUT T65
The Open Championship NT CUT
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

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Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 5
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 1
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 3
Totals 0 0 0 0 0 1 21 10
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (2014 Open – 2016 PGA)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 0

Results in The Players Championship

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Tournament 2008 2009
The Players Championship CUT
Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
The Players Championship T19 CUT T17 CUT CUT
Tournament 2020 2021 2022
The Players Championship C T55 CUT
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
C = Cancelled after the first round due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Results in World Golf Championships

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Results not in chronological order before 2015.

Tournament 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Championship
Match Play T34 T51 NT1
Invitational T31 T16 T59 T51
Champions T53 T40 NT1 NT1

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Week 14 2014 Ending 6 Apr 2014" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  2. ^ "Matt Jones wins Houston Open on playoff chip-in". CBC Sports. Associated Press. 6 April 2014.
  3. ^ "Matt Jones wins second Australian Open title by 1 stroke". Associated Press. 8 December 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  4. ^ "Jones wins Honda Classic by five shots, earns spot in Masters". Canadian Press. 21 March 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Matt Jones says playing LIV Golf event is 'purely a business decision'". Golf Channel Digital. 1 June 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
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