This article is part of our Weekly Recap series.
Seven years ago, Matt Jones waited until the last possible moment to qualify for his first Masters, winning the Houston Open just four days prior. This time, he didn't cut it quite so close – he gave Augusta officials three weeks' notice that he'd be coming.
Jones rode a first-round 9-under 61 all the way to victory at the Honda Classic, and thus at 40 years old will play in his second Masters. He wound up at 12-under, five shots clear of a quintet of runners-up. While it kind of feels as if Jones went wire-to-wire, remember that he actually feel six strokes behind Aaron Wise early on Saturday before Wise plummeted – all the way to a tie for 13th by Sunday night.
The Australian has played on the PGA Tour uninterrupted since 2008, making 330 career starts, yet he's had scant success. This was only his 28th top-10 and he's made a little more than 60 percent of his cuts. But he's back inside the top-50 in the world rankings at No. 49, not far from his personal best of 41st reached way back when he won the 2014 Houston Open.
"It's going to be nice. I can go prep for the Masters this time," Jones told reporters at PGA National. "Last time it was an absolute blur. I can't remember a thing about it, so I'm going to do some prep this time before."
What Jones surely recalls is that he missed the cut, and by three
