With his fourth top-3 finish in eight starts Bryden Macpherson has closed the gap at the top of the China Tour Order of Merit.

An outright third place finish at this week’s Shenzhou Peninsula Classic halved the lead of Korea’s Rak Hyun Cho at the top of the earnings table, Macpherson is now just AU$20,000 behind.

Cho withdrew from the tournament after an opening round of 70 and Macpherson took advantage with rounds of 64-70-69-68 to cash a cheque for AU$17,000.

The pair has staged a season long battle for top spot, Cho with two wins and a second among his eight results while Macpherson has been a model of consistency with just one finish outside the top-20.

Macpherson is one of three Australasians in the top-5on the Order of Merit, Deyen Lawson sitting fourth while fellow tournament winner Josh Geary of New Zealand is fifth.

Maverick Antcliff was next best behind Macpherson at this week’s event sharing eighth place with Geary a shot further back and T11.

Seven of the eight Australasians in the field made the cut, Mitchell Brown missing by a stroke after rounds of 75-73.

Kevin Yuan (T15), Peter Martin (T18), Fraser Wilkin (T20) and Jack Munro (T58) were the others to play the weekend.