New Zealand’s Nick Voke has used his second start on the PGA Tour China to record the first win of his professional career, taking out the Qinhuangdao Championship on the second playoff hole.

Less than a year since turning professional, Voke was tied for fourth in his China debut last week at the Suzhou Championship and shot 66 in the final round at Qinhuangdao Poly Golf Club to end the 72 holes at 12-under and tied with Englishman Stephen Lewton.

The pair both recorded pars on their first trip back down the par-3 18th hole before the 23-year-old made a snaking 15-foot putt for birdie the second time around and delivered a moment he will remember for the rest of his life.

“This victory opens up some opportunities for me, and it’s pretty exciting to see what doors can open from it,” said Voke.

“If I don’t qualify for the Web.com Tour, I will play here in China (in 2019). I feel it’s the best pathway to get to the Web.com Tour and hopefully play well enough there to get through that pathway (to the PGA Tour).”

An Iowa State University graduate, Voke turned professional late last year and immediately announced himself with a top-10 finish at the REBEL Sport Masters and when he was tied for seventh at both the NZ PGA and NZ Open had climbed from 1,928 in the world to 872.

Through 36 holes it was Victorian Bryden MacPherson leading into the weekend but it was two other Aussies who emerged in rounds three and four, James Marchesani and Max McCardle finishing tied for fourth.

One-under after Friday, Marchesani was the big mover, his third round of 68 the equal best of the day and following it up with a Sunday 69 to finish level with McCardle at 8-under.

New South Wales left-hander Corey Hale rounded out the Australasian influence near the top of the leaderboard in a tie for 10th, MacPherson, Deyen Lawson and Kevin Yuan finishing the week tied for 20th at 3-under par.

New Zealander Luke Toomey completed his week with a 71 to be tied for 31st, South Australian David Lutterus a shot further back in a tie for 36th.

After an opening round of 69 DJ Loypur was the only other Australian to make the cut but a difficult third round of 81 confined him to 60th.

Any player in the top-25 of the money list after the Qinhuangdao Championship is exempt to the Second Stage of the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament, which will be held from October 30-November 2 and November 6-9.

The 2018 PGA Tour Series-China concludes it 2018 season with the Macau Championship (September 27-30), the Zhuhai Championship (October 4-7) and Clearwater Bay Open in Hong Kong (October 11-14).

From the final Order of Merit, the top five will earn status on next year’s Web.com Tour, top-10 players are exempt to the Final Stage of the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament from December 6-9 and any player ranked 11-25 is exempt to the Second Qualifying Stage.

On the back of his victory Voke has moved up to 13th on the Order of Merit, closely followed by McCardle in 15th position.

Lawson is the next best Australian in 28th position followed by Marchesani (31st) and MacPherson (38th) with Toomey (43rd), Hale (44th) and Yuan (50th) all inside the top 50.

The Japan Golf Tour saw the culmination of the ISPS HANDA Match Play at Hatoyama Country Club where Matthew Griffin, Brad Kennedy and David Bransdon had advanced to the final 32.

Griffin was the first to go, bowing out on Wednesday 1 up to Ryuji Masaoka with Kennedy falling to Yuta Ikeda 3&2 in the round of 16 but it was Bransdon who survived the longest.

He took until the 19th hole before disposing of Yujiro Ohori, defeated Ryuko Tokimatsu 4&2 to qualify for the quarter-finals but went down to Rattanon Wannasrichan 1 down to bring his title run to an end.