A week after claiming his maiden Challenge Tour victory Scott Arnold took top honours this week by default as the only Australian to make the cut at the Kazakhstan Open.

The 29-year-old played three steady rounds at the Nurtau Golf Club but was let down by a Saturday 76 which saw him tumble from T21 through 36 holes to T54 heading to Sunday.

Adding a final round 71 to rounds of 71-70 and the aforementioned 76, Arnold eventually finished T52 and picked up a cheque for €1,688.

He drops from 18th to 22nd on the Order of Merit with the top 15 to earn promotion to the European Tour next year.

With just three full field events left before the Tour’s grand finale in Oman in November, Arnold has a good chance to push his way into the top 15 but will need some quality golf to do it.

The Challenge Tour now has a two week break before resuming in Italy in the first week of October.

While Arnold will feel he let an opportunity slip in Kazakhstan so, too, will Ryan Fox who missed his first cut on the secondary tour since first teeing up there in June.

The New Zealander has taken the Tour by storm since receiving his first invite to play at the Najeti Open in France and is now seventh on the Order of Merit with a win and five top 10 finishes in eight starts.

Terry Pilkadaris and Geoff Drakeford were the other Australasians in the field this week, both missing the cut with some poor golf over the first 36 holes.

Pilkadaris returned rounds of 75-74 to be five outside the cut line while Drakeford’s 78-73 was seven too many.

Neither could afford a missed cut this week as both are well outside the number required to maintain Challenge Tour status for next year.

Pilkadaris is 58th on the Order of Merit while Drakeford is 64th and only the top-45 automatically earn a place on the Tour next year.