After a grueling month of golf in which he earned back his TOUR card Sydney’s Matt Jones fought hard but faded late at the first event of the new PGA TOUR season in California.

The 2015 Emirates Australian Open champion survived the Monday finish to last week’s Web.com Tour event to grab one of the 25 cards on offer but the late finish meant a quick turnaround ahead of the season opener.

After missing the first two cuts of the four Web.com Finals tournaments, Jones played under extreme pressure for the final two events and it would be no surprise if fatigue was a factor Sunday at the Silverado Resort.

Jones was the only one of four Australians in the field to survive the cut and went to the final round inside the top-20 on the leaderboard.

But Sunday began badly for the Sydneysider with dropped shots at each of the first two holes and three more on the way to the turn added up to an outward 41 and a slide down the leaderboard.

Things were less adventurous on the way to the clubhouse with just one birdie and one bogey to eventually finish T43.

While no doubt disappointed with his Sunday play it was the third consecutive week of mostly good golf for Jones who will be encouraged by his performance ahead of a long year.

The news wasn’t as promising for Aaron Baddeley, Greg Chalmers and Steve Allan who all missed the 36-hole cut.

While Baddeley and Chalmers are secure for the year after posting wins in the 2016 season, Allan Monday qualified for the tournament after losing his Web.com status at the end of the season just gone.

The 43-year-old has been a fixture in America since 2001 when he first qualified for the PGA TOUR but will need to rely on Monday qualifying and invites for the 2017 season unless he can gain a Web.com card at the upcoming Q-School.