Rhein Gibson has struggled to find his feet
in his rookie season on the PGA TOUR but he roared back into form on the
Web.com Tour this week playing his way into a sudden death playoff at the Lecom
Health Challenge in New York.

Gibson grabbed the lead on day one with a
blistering 8-under 64 and was in the mix right till the end, a par at the
second extra hole ultimately one shot too many to claim his first win.

The Lismore native is known as an
aggressive player capable of making a lot of birdies and he proved it at the
Peek’n Peak Resort making 25 birdies and an eagle on his way to a 19-under
total.

While he will be disappointed not to have
won, Gibson will take a lot of positives and confidence from a week which saw
just two of the eight Australians in the field qualify for the weekend.

Prior to this event Gibson had broken 70
just eight times in 16 starts on the PGA TOUR and three times in three starts
on the Web.com.

As an added bonus, the second place cheque
also jumped him more than 140 spots on the Web.com money list to 67^th,
a fact that may be pivotal at season’s end if he is to tee up again on the main
Tour in 2017.

Gibson is presently outside the top-200 on
the FedEx Cup standings with only the top-125 retaining playing rights for next
season.

With limited starts remaining on the PGA
TOUR, a high finish on the Web.com money list could be crucial to qualifying
for the four event Finals Series and earning back his PGA TOUR status next
year.

Oliver Goss was the only other Australian
to play the weekend in New York, a second round 66 the highlight of the week
for the West Australian.

Brett Drewitt, Mathew Goggin, Steve Allan,
Cameron Percy, Peter Lonard and Bryden Macpherson all missed the weekend’s
action.