It’s the tournament within a tournament and the rewards are significant.

The winner of the PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit will be determined at the completion of Sunday’s final round of the Australian PGA Championship and a confluence of events means that a host of players remain in the hunt to claim a one year exemption on the European Tour, starts in two World Golf Championship events and a place in the field for the famed Dunhill Links pro-am in Scotland.

Named the PGA Tour of Australasia Player of the Year at the Greg Norman Medal awards night on Tuesday night, Kiwi Ryan Fox will carry a $75,000 buffer into the final round and in a tie for 23th guaranteed to add something to his tally.

But Fox’s status on the European Tour earned with his win at the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth in February opens the door for the runner-up on the Order of Merit to assume that exemption in Europe as the leading player not otherwise exempt will be invited to join the European Tour.

Heading into the final round one shot from the lead, a win or runner-up finish could be enough for Wade Ormsby to clinch the Order of Merit crown but, like Fox, he too is already exempt for the 2020 European Tour season.

That brings Victorian Zach Murray into the equation, the New Zealand Open champion more than $16,000 ahead of Brad Kennedy but in need of a low round on Sunday to give his prizemoney total a boost of any significance.

Kennedy, a winner on the Japan Golf Tour last year, sits tied for 31std through 54 holes, the two WGCs and big European Tour events through Japan’s off-season in July and August an enticing proposition for the Gold Coast-based 45-year-old.

Currently 31st on the Order of Merit, Nick Flanagan’s course record 9-under 63 on Saturday puts him in the frame but he would need to win to finish second behind Fox, a win that would come with a European membership category of its own.

The other player to watch is 21-year-old West Australian Min Woo Lee. Sitting 12th on the Order of Merit with $75,739.75 in prizemoney, Lee surged up the leaderboard late on Saturday to be tied for third heading into the final round and would move into second behind Fox if he could finish outright second.