Jake Higginbottom and Marcus Both are the lone Australians to make the journey to Korea for one of the richest event on the 2017 the Asian Tour this week.

The Shinghan Donghae Open boasts a purse of more than US$1 million, both players hoping to advance their Order of Merit positions though for different reasons.

Higginbottom, who lost his Asian Tour card last year after finishing outside the top 60 in earnings, played his way back to the Tour via the Q-School and presently sits 48^th on the money list.

While inside the number who retain playing rights for 2018 his positions is far from comfortable and a good result this week would go a long way towards shoring up his position.

The former New Zealand Open winner has played just six events to date in Asia and with nine full field events remaining on the schedule will be keen to post his third top 10 finish.

The 2017 season has been less kind to Both who also lost his card at the end of last year but came up shy of earing full rights at the Q-School.

Three times a winner on the Tour, Both has made just four starts in 2017 and is outside the top 100 in earnings and desperately in need of a decent cheque if he is to play a full schedule next year.