In just his fourth Challenge Tour appearance of the year Nick Cullen posted his second top-10 finish at the Cordon Golf Open in France at the weekend.

The former Australian Masters winner teed up for the first time since July, when he was T2 at the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge, and posted a T9 result with rounds of 68-70-66-70.

Cullen has now moved to 47^th on the Challenge Tour’s Road to Oman standings where the top-45 at season’s end earn automatic status for 2017.

With €25,505 in earnings the left hander would likely need around €80,000 to break into the top-15 by season’s end and grab a card for the main Tour next season.

There are six full field events left on the calendar and while Cullen has made it clear his goal is to concentrate on either the Web.com or European Tours he may now consider adding further Challenge Tour events to his schedule.

Daniel Gaunt was the only other Australasian to tee up this week and played some good golf on his way to a T12 finish.

Gaunt has split his time between the secondary Tour and main Tour this season and needs to move up seven places on the Road to Oman standings to guarantee a card for next year.

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, who was battling for top spot on the rankings in recent weeks, has slipped from second to fourth after electing not to play this week.