A winner of more than one billion Yen on the Japan Golf Tour, where he won 15 times, Jones has teed it up in majors, played the World Match Play against Tiger Woods, and yet he says his achievements aren’t something he regularly ponders.

“No I don’t think about it, maybe when my time is up, that’ll be the time to think about it,” Jones said Wednesday.

“But while I’m still out playing, and it’s nice to come out here and see the photo of me 20-odd years ago is still there, that sort of brings back a few memories.”

The photo Jones refers to is of a fresh faced member of Castle Hill holding the adidas Australian Amateur trophy aloft in 1999.

“It’s good to see a lot of people I haven’t seen for a long time. The golf course, the holes are still going in the same directions, there’s a few minor changes,” he said.

The local knowledge of Castle Hill will combine with fond memories of the Webex Players Series Sydney for Jones, who after taking up a job as a landscaper during COVID returned to competitive golf at this event in 2022, only to lose in a play-off to Jarryd Felton.

Jones admitting his time away slightly fuelled his competitive fires, although finding himself mostly content with how life after golf looked.

“I was happy, I wasn’t missing golf at all. The only thing I missed about golf was the big cheques every now and then. Forty hours a week landscaping and seeing the cheque I was getting at the end of each week was not cutting the mustard,” he joked.

Jones’ return to his regular day job did indeed yield one of those larger cheques, with his win at the 2023 New Zealand Open not only delivering prizemoney and another trophy, but also his playing rights on the Asian Tour. An experience he is looking forward to immensely.

“Looking forward to it because I’m going to be going to places that I haven’t been before.

“Playing on the Japanese Tour for 20 years, you get used to playing the same courses, going to the same places, eating the same food, sitting at the same chair in a pub, going to the same restaurant and sitting at the same table.

“Seeing some new things before my game goes away from me. It’s quite exciting to be honest.”

The game leaving Jones might be on his mind, but recent form suggests he might be in for a long wait. And with his experience around his former home course and success starting the year in the past, his younger competitors might see just that this week.

“Generally, for me, when I start a season, I’m fresh, I feel quite good and I’ve forgotten about the rubbish that I was dealing with the year before, it seems like this year’s no different.

“I felt like I played quite well last week down in Victoria, and hopefully building to something and with the added excitement of going to new places and playing new golf courses, who knows what can happen.”