Only tournament winner Scott Langley outscored Rhein GIbson in the final round of the Web.com Tour’s Panama Championship, the Lismore native leapfrogging almost 40 players with a blistering Sunday 66.

Starting the day in the bottom third of the field, Gibson raced up the leaderboard at the difficult Panama Golf Club with a 5-under outward nine built around three birdies and an eagle.

A double bogey at 10 momentarily stopped his momentum but back-to-back birdies at the next two holes righted the ship and despite closing with a bogey the 32-year-old will take plenty of confidence from his final round heroics which saw him finish T17.

It’s been an impressive opening to the 2018 season for Gibson who sits fifth on the money list after three events, an ideal start to finishing top-25 at year’s end and graduating to the PGA TOUR.

Gibson was one of eight Australasians to play the third event of the 2018 season and one of five to make the cut at a golf course that proved extremely demanding over the four days.

The 36-hole cut came at 4-over-par, testament to the difficulty of the conditions, with Mathew Goggin, Brett Drewitt and Jamie Arnold among those not to make the grade.

Curtis Luck, Cameron Davis and the New Zealand duo of Tim Wilkinson and Steve Alker joined Gibson in qualifying for the final two rounds, Luck finishing at the same score as his countryman after a final round 70.

Luck was just one shot out of the lead through two rounds after posting 68-68 but a third round 75 saw him slide down the standings.

Starting the final round T25, he moved up eight places with his even par effort and though only early in the season sits 27^th on the money list and in good shape in his bid to earn a PGA TOUR card.

Both Wilkinson and Alker were steady over the 72 holes to finish T39 and T48 respectively but Cameron Davis, as he did last week, struggled at the weekend.