A
blistering final round 63 from Newcastle’s Kurt Barnes not only vaulted the
35-year-old to outright third at the Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Japan but may
well have saved his Tour card for 2017.

Barnes has
struggled for form all season with not a single top-10 to his name through his
first 17 events of the year.

Nine missed
cuts in those 17 starts also had him languishing outside the top-100 on the
money list and in danger of losing full playing rights but that all changed at
this week’s prestigious Dunlop Phoenix tournament.

After
opening with rounds of 70-70, Barnes found something at the weekend and with
scores of 67-63 moved from T17 Friday to outright third and received a cheque for
13,600,000 yen (AU$167,000).

That moved him to 50^th on the money list and
safely inside the number to retain his rights for 2017 with just two events
remaining on the schedule.

Barnes was
one of six Australians to tee up in the event with five making the cut, Scott
Strange the only one not to play the weekend.

Brad
Kennedy posted his best finish since September with a T6 result to be next best
behind Barnes while Won Joon Lee continued his strong finish to the year with a
T16 result.

Brendan
Jones was two shots back of Lee at T22 and the last of the Australians to
finish under par, Adam Bland rounding out the Australian challenge at even par
and T40.