A late Sunday charge by Sydney’s Matt Jones saw him come within two shots of his second PGA TOUR title in as many years as American Matt Every claimed back to back Arnold Palmer titles in a thrilling finish at Bay Hill.

Jones, who finished outright third behind Every and World Number three Henrik Stenson, started the day three shots behind overnight leader Stenson but trod water over the first nine holes to seemingly be out of contention.

But as he did in Saturday’s third round the 34-year-old caught fire on the back nine and with four birdies from the 12th, including a run of three straight from the 15th, put himself well in the mix.

The fast finish saw Jones post his best result in five starts at Bay Hill and just his second top 10 for the season.

While Jones’ form is improving just in time for his title defence at the Shell Houston Open in a fortnight Adam Scott’s Masters preparation is of concern after an indifferent week at Bay Hill.

The World Number four finished in a share of 35th at 6-under for the week, 13 shots behind the eventual champion.

Questions remain about Scott’s putting since his move to the short stick at Doral two weeks ago despite his continuing excellence in all ball striking categories.

The Queenslander finished well above the TOUR average in driving distance, accuracy and greens in regulation categories this week but below par in strokes gained putting.

Scott hasn’t ruled out a return to the broomstick for the Masters and has said he will continue to use the long putter as a training aid even after thew anchored stroke is outlawed at the end of the year.

Jason Day, who finished in a share of 17th at Bay Hill, had similar performance issues to his fellow Queenslander this week with his normally reliable putter also losing ground to the field.

Steven Bowditch was the only other Australian to make the cut this week in Florida though never threatened the leaders and with no sub-70 rounds for the week finished T62.

Marc Leishman and John Senden both missed the weekend by two shots while former winner Rod Pampling was four outside the cut line.

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