Ranked No.100 on the Race to CME Globe standings prior to Round 1, Kemp spoke of the pressure associated with riding the tightrope of Tour security.

With eight events left in the season, Kemp’s tie for eighth at Kenwood Country Club moves her to 88th in the season-long points race with some breathing room in the top-100 cut-off that determines who keeps full status for the following year.

“This is huge,” Kemp admitted.

“I was 100 on CME, so I won’t be anymore, which is great. It’s a little pressure taken off going into the last few events.

“It’s exactly what I needed to do and I did it, so it was great.”

Kemp earned her first individual top-10 finish of the year with a closing round of even par 72 on Sunday, 10 shots back of American victor Ally Ewing.

It came a week after a missed cut which failed to shake her belief that a good result was not far off.

“I played pretty good last week and missed the cut by two,” Kemp added.

“It’s a funny game. I stayed really patient this week and didn’t panic by missing the cut last week. I rolled it great and they just didn’t go in; this week some did.

“I’ve been lingering around the 90 to 100 for quite a while. I’ve been playing OK but I knew I needed a good finish coming in.

“Top 10 is just awesome to start finishing out the year. Really cool.”

Birdies at the two closing par 5s helped to elevate Scott Hend up the leaderboard at the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship at the Wentworth Club in Surrey.

As Min Woo Lee sought to repeat his extraordinary second round of 10-under 62 it was Hend who made the most progress in Sunday’s final round.

Despite a double bogey at nine, Hend turned in two-under and then picked up shots at 10, 17 and 18 for a closing five-under 67 and a tie for 32nd as Shane Lowry completed a bogey-free week for a one-shot win.

Incredibly, the other four Australians who made the cut all finished on the same score, eight-under 208, for a share of 42nd.

Travis Smyth also closed with a 67 to be the highest-placed Australian at the Shinhan Donghae Open with Stuart Appleby’s tie for 41st the best of the Aussies at the Champions Tour’s Ascension Charity Classic in Missouri.

Results
LPGA Tour
Kroger City Queen Championship
Kenwood Country Club (Kendale Cse), Cincinnati, Ohio
Winner Ally Ewing          69-64-67-66—266           $US262,500
8            Sarah Kemp       66-68-70-72—276           $43,589
T24        Hannah Green   70-70-72-70—282           $15,028
MC        Minjee Lee         76-69—145
MC        Sarah Jane Smith             77-69—146
MC        Karis Davidson  76-71—147

DP World Tour
BMW PGA Championship
Wentworth Club, Virginia Water, Surrey, England
Event reduced to 54 holes following passing of Queen Elizabeth II
Winner Shane Lowry      66-68-65—199  €1,351,105.60
T32        Scott Hend         70-70-67—207  €56,428.53
T42        Maverick Antcliff             69-69-70—208  €41,327.94
T42        Min Woo Lee     76-62-70—208  €41,327.94
T42        Adam Scott        69-70-69—208  €41,327.94
T42        Jason Scrivener 66-69-73—208  €41,327.94
MC        Lucas Herbert    69-72—141
MC        Wade Ormsby   74-72—146
WD        Ryan Fox             73

Japan Golf Tour/Asian Tour/Korean PGA
The 38th Shinhan Donghae Open
KOMA Country Club, Nara Prefecture, Japan
Winner Kazuki Higa        66-63-70-65—264           ¥23,864,400
T32        Travis Smyth      67-70-68-67—272           ¥967,834
T38        Brad Kennedy    66-68-71-68—273           ¥827,299
MC        Junseok Lee       69-71—140
MC        Won Joon Lee    74-66—140
MC        Todd Sinnott      72-70—142
MC        Ben Campbell    72-70—142
MC        Brendan Jones  70-72—142
MC        Jake Higginbottom          74-72—146
MC        Daniel Fox          75-72—147

Champions Tour
Ascension Charity Classic
Norwood Hills Country Club, St Louis, Missouri
Winner Padraig Harrington         65-66-68—199
T5          Steven Alker      66-68-69—203
T41        Stuart Appleby  70-68-74—212
T51        Rod Pampling    68-70-75—213
T57        David McKenzie 67-72-75—214