Matt Jones will be a mightily relieved golfer at this week’s Australian Open in hometown Sydney after overcoming illness to earn a return to the US PGA Tour at the qualifying school.
An ailing Matt Jones struggled to swallow and couldn’t sleep in the early rounds of the six-day Q-school at La Quinta, California and was forced to seek urgent care before the fourth round after his affliction became too much to handle.
He was diagnosed with acute Pharyngitis, essentially a painful throat infection, and given antibiotics.
Already under the intense pressure of Q-School, where just 25 of 172 players earn tour cards, and with the memories of a final-round meltdown at the same venue in 2011, Jones could easily have faltered.
But he rallied on the final day with a two-under-par 70 and moved into a tie for 14th at 20-under-par to earn full-status for 2013, joining Steven Bowditch as the only Australians to qualify.
“I am excited and plan on never coming back to a Q-school-style situation again – it’s just a battle of attrition,” Jones said.
“I hit it the best I’ve ever hit it for the first five days but, today, I didn’t hit it very good. I was a bit anxious and my adrenalin got the best of me.
“I couldn’t swallow most of the week because I had Pharyngitis, it hurt to swallow and I couldn’t sleep so I’m just really happy to be finished.
“Hopefully I can sleep on the plane heading to Sydney for the Aussie Open tonight.”
On reflection, Jones believed his illness might have helped temper his nerves over the early rounds.
“I just battled through it. I saved as much energy as I could out there on the course, sat down when I could and just rested,” he explained.
“It probably actually helped me a little because it didn’t allow me to get too amped up. It forced me to use the right muscles in my golf swing.”
Australian journeyman Adam Crawford was celebrating almost as hard after his tie for 43rd gave him full status on the secondary web.com tour.
Crawford tried and failed to qualify in the US from 2004 to 2007 to no avail before turning his attention to Asia.
But with a solid season in Australia in 2011-12 setting up a free pass to the final Q-school stage the 37-yeaqr-old couldn’t resist.
“Obviously, I would have liked to be in the top 25 and be on the PGA Tour but, to cement a place on the web.com tour, is just great,” the Queenslander said.
“It was great to finish it off on a high and I’m looking forward to coming over next year and playing a full season and hopefully taking the next step through that tour.”
