With his fifth top five in just nine starts for the season Ryan Fox has climbed to third on the Challenge Tour’s season long Road to Oman standings.

The New Zealander overcame a slow start to his week with back to back rounds of 66 on Friday and Saturday in the Challenge Tour’s richest tournament.

An even par final round on a difficult scoring day was a better round of golf than it looked on paper, Fox holding on to outright fourth in the tournament and cashing a cheque for €24,750.

That moved Fox from fifth on the earnings table to third and within €40,000 of leader Jordan Smith.

There is plenty of incentive to win the Road to Oman, the leading point scorer at the end of the season earning a full European Tour card.

Fox has secured his place in the top-15 and is assured playing rights on the main Tour for 2017 but those finishing 2-15 have limited status.

Also teeing up in Kazakhstan was former Australian Masters winner Nick Cullen who has posted some excellent results on the secondary European Tour despite limited starts in 2016.

The likeable left hander had a disappointing week to miss the cut after posting three consecutive top 10 finishes in his last three starts.

Cullen had played his way into the top-45 who keep their cards for 2017 in just six tournaments but the missed cut sees him fall to 50th with four tournaments remaining on the schedule.

Daniel Gaunt was the third Australasian in the field in Kazakhstan but also missed the cut with scores of 75-69.