The New South Welshman who calls America home leads the field at 10-under the card following a round that featured seven birdies and a lone bogey at the 11^th.

Sitting one shot clear of Paul Casey and Dimi Papadatos in second place, Jones believes another title could be within reach if all goes his way on moving day.

“Any time you get to lead is fantastic.  It would have been better to be more in front, but I’ll take one in front,” Jones said.

“(There’s) still a long way to go.  I’m sure the wind is going to pick up the next two days, which will make it a little tougher.

“I made a lot of par putts yesterday, made some good birdie putts today, maybe missed one or two, but it’s evened itself out, so I’m very happy to be where I am.”

Previous experience at the famed Australian layout will be of benefit to Jones whose composure under pressure will prove crucial come crunch time.

“Knowing where to miss a golf course I find is very important to me, so I kind of know where to miss and the types of shot you’ll need in certain areas if you do miss a green regulation,” he said.

“I do rely on my short game a lot.  This week it’s not as necessary, you can putt from everywhere, so chipping is not a huge necessity this week. 

“I’ve got a lot of experience around here and I’m going to have to use that the next two days.”

Englishman Paul Casey claimed an early lead with the first of many 6-under 65 rounds from the course on Friday morning to sit at 9-under the card through 36 holes.

Casey took advantage of benign morning conditions to record four consecutive birdies on the run into the clubhouse in what he says is a change of form compared to round one.

“I’ve not been able to get it close to any flag for about a day and a half and then suddenly the back nine for me, the front nine, the last half a dozen holes, suddenly some really good birdie opportunities,” Casey said.

Challenge Tour winner Dimi Papadatos will take the same approach into the Australian Open weekend as he did for his second-place result in 2018 with hopes to go one better from a two-round total of 9-under.

“Last year was a bit of a surprise and I played well.  I better take something from that and know that to get that close you surely can be able to go a little bit better one day, so maybe this week,” Papadatos said.

A truly international field follows the top three with American Cameron Tringale, South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen, Kiwi Denzel Ieremia, Japan’s Takumi Kanaya and Queensland young gun Shae Wools-Cobb tied for fourth at 8-under.

Fan favourite Adam Scott has missed the Australian Open cut and two extra rounds of preparation ahead of next week’s Presidents Cup after struggling through his opening 18 holes.

Scott found his groove following a morning range session that included an adjustment to his stance and swing but a 4-under second round for even par was not enough to see 39-year-old through to the weekend.

The second-round cut was made at 1-under the card, seeing 71 players through to day three.

Moving day at The Australian promises to be full of action as a stacked leaderboard fight for position in the chase for the Stonehaven Cup.

The winner of the Australian Open will receive the winner’s share of the $1,500,000 prize purse and World Golf Ranking Points while the top three places also receive exemption into The Open field in 2020.

The third round of the Australian Open tees off at 6:58am. The leading group of Jones, Casey and Papadatos will take to the course at 11:55am AEDT.