Sydney’s Taylor Cooper
survived what became a war of attrition at the PGA Tour China’s Putian Open, the
24-year-old finished with a 4-over for the 72 holes but outright second.

In a final round which
saw just one player break 70 and just seven sign for under par scores, Cooper’s
1-over 73 was enough to move him one place up the leaderboard.

Testament to the
difficulty of the course were the 11 scores of 80 or higher returned on Sunday
as Korea’s Taewoo Kim parlayed his five shot overnight lead into a four shot
victory.

Cooper’s T2 result
moved him 43 places up the Order of Merit to 22^nd and all but
guaranteed of retaining his status on next year’s PGA Tour China.

"For me, securing my card for 2017 was my
goal," said Cooper. "Now we’ll see what happens the rest of the way. There are
still two tournaments left. Two high finishes, with maybe a win, and I can
think about getting into the top-5 [ed on the Order of Merit].

"I could have gone lower today, but I just
couldn’t make the putts."

James Gibellini was next best of the
Australians at T21 with Jake Stirling (T46), Peter Cooke and Peter Martin (T56),
Mitch Davis (T59) and Chris Wood (T66) the other Australians to survive the
cut.