South Australia’s Max McCardle has posted
his second top-5 finish in five events on the PGA TOUR China as Australians
made a strong showing at the Nanjing Zhongshan Open at the weekend.

McCardle was outright fifth after a final
round 2-under 70, one shot behind David Lutterus whose 10-under total was good
for outright fourth place.

After starting the season with T8 and T4
finishes in the first two events to be inside the top-10 on the Order of Merit,
McCardle cooled in recent weeks to slip to 12^th in the standings.

His play this week sees him edge up one
place as he tries to claw into the top-5 by season’s end and earn playing
rights on the Web.com Tour in the US.

Rohan Blizard, who won his last start to
jump to third on the money list, maintained that position with a T6 finish this
week.

Blizard has a healthy lead over fourth
placed Justin Shin of Canada but will need to continue to play well for the
rest of the season to hold his position.

McCardle, Lutterus and Blizard were among five
Australians inside the top-10 on the leaderboard, Christopher Brown and Daniel
Nisbet also T6 alongside Blizard.

Nisbet began the final round one shot off
the lead but struggled in difficult conditions, his 2-over 74 dropping him down
the standings.

James Gibellini and Lincoln Tighe were next
best among the Australians, the long hitting Tighe playing his third event of
the year and seemingly on the verge of a good result.

After missing the cut in his first outing
of the year, Tighe was T4 last start after a poor second round and could have
been higher on the leaderboard again this week but for a 2-over final round.

Tighe’s play at last year’s Australian Open
showed he has the talent to compete at an international level and the
opportunity to play a full schedule in China this year will be a big help in
achieving that goal.

Taylor Cooper, Andrew Evans and Peter
Martin (T44) were next best with Scott Laycock (T53) and David McKenzie (T59)
the last of the Australians to make the cut.

Jake Stirling, Jake Younan, Jack Munro,
Christopher Wood, Gavin Flint, Aaron Cox, Mitch Davis, Jake Higginbottom, Do
Eun An, Alex Hawley and Ray Beaufils all missed the cut.