Rhein Gibson spearheads a seven strong Australian assault on the first event of the Web.com Tour finals this week as the Lismore native looks to get back to the PGA TOUR.

Gibson earned a card for the main Tour at last year’s four event series but endured a difficult time at the top level and lost his status for 2017.

However, the 30-year-old has been in fine form in recent weeks as he has returned to the secondary Tour, coming within a whisker of finishing the regular season in the all important top-25 in earnings.

At 30^th after the Oregon Open a fortnight ago he missed an automatic return to the TOUR by less than $6,000, a stunning last minute run almost getting the job done.

Gibson posted two runner-up finishes and a fourth placing in his last four events and with that form heading to this week’s DAP Championship in Ohio seems likely to be a contender.

Gibson was one of only two Australians to qualify for the Finals via the Web.com Tour, Brett Drewitt the other to finish in the top-75 money earners at the end of the regular season.

Highlighted by a T2 finish at the BMW Charity Pro-am in May, Drewitt crafted a solid though unspectacular season with 13 cuts made from 21 starts.

Playing his second year on the secondary circuit Drewitt improved on his rookie season finish of 93^rd and could surprise over the next four weeks.

His career has followed a pattern of steady improvement each year and since graduating to the American tour from the PGA Tour China in 2014 he has continued that trend.

Gibson and Drewitt are joined in the finals series by PGA TOUR players Matt Jones, Cameron Percy, Camron Smith, Stuart Appleby and Rod Pampling.

The field for the next four weeks is made up of those players finishing 1-75 on the Web.com money list and those ranked 126-200 on the FedEx Cup standings.

Matt Jones was the 126^th ranked player in the FedEx Cup after the Wyndham Championship, trailing 125^th placed Seung-Yul Noh by just nine points.

Percy (168^th), Smith (157^th), Appleby (143^rd) and Pampling (195^th) are all previous fully exempt players on the PGA TOUR and will be motivated to get back to that level.

There are a total of 50 cards available over the next four weeks though 25 have already been decided by the top-25 on the money list at the end of the regular Web.com season two weeks ago.

The other 25 cards will be awarded to the top-25 cumulative earners over the four weeks of the finals.

Both the leading regular season money winner and the player who earns the most over the next four weeks will be awarded fully exempt status for the 2017 PGA TOUR as well as a start at the PLAYERS’ Championship at Sawgrass.