Bryden Macpherson suffered two agonisingly close calls in the final China Tour event of the year as he just missed in a playoff at the Asian Golf Championship and finished within a whisker of winning the Order of Merit.

The former British Amateur champion was one of only five players at par or better to start the final round of the Asian Tour co-sanctioned event and produced one of the best sores of the day at the difficult Kaikou Golf Club in Xiamen.

Macpherson fired a 3-under 69 Sunday to apply some pressure to tournament leader Bowen Xiao of China who dropped three shots in his final four holes to fall into a tie.

The pair headed back to the 18^th tee for sudden death where Macpherson looked to be in trouble after an indifferent approach but survived when Xiao missed a short birdie putt.

However, to his credit Xiao regrouped nicely and hit an even better approach the second time around, this time converting to relegate Macpherson to runner-up.

While the play-off loss was disappointing the heartbreak didn’t end there for the Australian whose cheque for US$38,500 left him agonisingly close to claiming the China Tour Order of Merit.

Macpherson and Korea’s Rak Hyun Cho have battled for top spot all year and after Cho missed the cut Macpherson had a legitimate chance to claim the title if he could manage a victory.

The eventual margin in earnings was less than AU$160, the second-place finish Macpherson’s seventh top five in 14 starts for the year.

While Macpherson signed for one of only five sub 70 scores Sunday it was fellow Australian Maverick Antcliff who impressed with the best score of the day by three shots.

Antcliff’s 6-under 66 vaulted him over 16 players for a T4 finish, his third top five in as many starts to close out a successful rookie season in China.

Marcus Both, who led going into the final round, stumbled on Sunday with a 5-over 77 to also be in a share of fourth alongside Antcliff while the last Australian in the field, Kevin Yuan, was T26.