Former Australian Masters champion Nick Cullen has stormed home in the final round of the Challenge Tour’s Irish Challenge to post his third top-10 in as many starts.

The easygoing left hander struggled over the first three days but posted a stirring 4-under 68 on Sunday, a score bettered by only one player, to climb to T10 on the leaderboard.

Having teed up just five times on Europe’s secondary tour for the year Cullen has been impressive with three top-10 finishes including a T2 two starts ago in France.

While keen to make his mark on either the main European Tour or America’s Web.com Tour, Cullen’s recent good play has him inside the top-45 on the Road to Oman standings and looking a good chance to guarantee a card for the Challenge Tour in 2017.

However, with four events remaining on the schedule and showing some good form Cullen may yet decide to push for the top-15 on the table who are guaranteed a European Tour card next season.

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, who is currently fifth on the Road to Oman and assured of playing Europe next year, followed a similar pattern to Cullen for the week producing his best golf on Sunday.

His 4-under 68 in the final round moved him 24 places up the leaderboard to T15.

Daniel Gaunt was the only other Australasian in the field but struggled over the opening two rounds to miss the cut.