Ryan Fox is having no trouble settling in as a new European Tour member adding a top-20 finish in Abu Dhabi to his top-10 result at the Australian PGA Championship in an impressive start to his European career.

Fox finished top Australasian at the first of the Tour’s three desert swing events in Abu Dhabi with an 8-under-par performance which saw him shoot under par each of the four days.

Consistent scores of 69-71-69-71 left Fox eight shots behind eventual winner Tommy Fleetwood but, importantly for the bigger picture, 31^st on the Race to Dubai standings in the early part of the season.

Fox and Western Australia’s Jason Scrivener both shot 1-under par on the final day in more difficult scoring conditions, Fox climbing seven places to T19 while Scrivener jumped 18 places up the leaderboard to T39.

Amateur Curtis Luck was next best among the Australasians despite disappointing weekend rounds of 74-74, the 20-year-old’s second round 65 was one of the highlights of the week.

Hong Kong Open champion Sam Brazel also shot 7-under in round two and was in excellent position at 8-under after three rounds.

But the unassuming New South Welshman hit a submerged log in the final round, a 7-over 79 seeing him plummet down the standings to eventually finish T60.

While the final round was disappointing, Brazel will take much from the experience as there was a lot more good than bad and he remains second on the Race to Dubai standings.

Andrew Dodt was the last of the Australasians to make the cut, a four round total of even par good for T66.

Wade Ormsby missed the weekend’s play by a single shot in his return from injury while Brett Rumford was two outside the required number.

Scott Hend never got going with scores of 75-71 while Nathan Holman’s troubles continued, the 2015 Australian PGA champion finishing well back with rounds of 73-79.