The PGA
Tour of Australasia draws to a close this week and the NSW PGA Championship
could prove to be the most important tournament of the year for some in the
field.

While the top end of the Order of Merit was secured last week with Australian
PGA Champion Nathan Holman taking out the top honour and benefits that go along
with it, including a start in The Open, WGC – Cadillac Championship and WGC –
HSBC Champions, players at the bottom end of the money list will be jostling
for their final positions.

Finishing high up on the Order of Merit earn benefits around the world
including;

European Tour Qualifying
School

• Leading 4-10^th
  placed entrants to a limit of 25^th place from the PGA Tour of
  Australasia Order of Merit are exempt into the second stage
• Leading 3 entrants to a limit
  of 15^th place from the PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit
  are exempt into the final stage 

Web.Com Tour Qualifying School

• Members of the PGA Tour of
  Australasia are exempt into First Stage
• Players finishing 6-15 from the
  Final PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit are exempt into Second Stage
• Players finishing 1-5 from the
  Final PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit are exempt into Final Stage

Japan Tour Qualifying
School    

• All PGA of Australia Members
  are exempt into the second stage
• Leading five (5) available
  players from the top-20 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit are exempt
  into the third stage 
• Leading three (3) available
  players from the top-20 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit are exempt
  into the final stage

 Asian
Tour Qualifying School

• Leading 3 players, not
  otherwise exempt, from the Top-30 of the Final PGA Tour of Australasia
  Order of Merit

2016 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

• Leading ten (10) players from
  the top-30 of the 2015 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit (TBC)

2016 The Memorial Tournament (PGA TOUR)

• Up to four Professionals
  selected by the tournament from among the money leaders on the PGA
  European Tour, Asian Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia, Sunshine Tour and
  Japan Golf Tour official money lists. (Note: at the discretion of the
  tournament committee – no guarantee these spots will be utilized and not
  necessarily the winner of the OOM) 

The only Pro in the field at the NSW PGA
Championship who can break into the top-10 is WA Open champion Daniel Fox. He
is currently ranked 11^th and will need a top-4 finish to see him
bump Ryan Fox out of the top-10.

Players who finish in positions 2-30 on the Order of Merit will receive
category three on the PGA Tour of Australasia exemption categories for the 2016
season. This will see them earn starts in all tournaments on Tour.

Players competing this week who could force their way into the top-30 are;

• Max McCardle (current position
  34^th)  – would need a top-9 finish
• Rory Bourke (35^th) –
  would need a top-5 finish
• Jamie Hook (39^th) –
  would need a top-2 finish

Players who finish in positions 31-50 on the
Order of Merit will receive category nine next year and should earn starts in
most of the tournaments on the PGA Tour of Australasia.

Players competing this week who could force their way into the top-50 are;

• Ryan Haller (56^th),
  Neven Basic (59^th) and Ed Stedman (60^th) – would
  need a top-3 finish
• Mitchell A. Brown (62^nd)
  and Ashley Hall (65^th) – would need a top-2 finish

Players who finish in positions 51-60 on the
Order of Merit will receive category 11 next year. Based on previous years this
would get them into all State Based Championships and depending on their
position within the category should get most of the Tier One tournaments.

Players competing this week who could force their way into the top-60 and avoid
a trip to final stage Qualifying School are;

• Mitchell A. Brown (62^nd)
  –  needs to make the cut
• Ashley Hall (65^th) –
  would need to finish top-11
• Peter Cooke (69^th) –
  would need to finish top-4
• Tim Hart (74^th) and
  Jason Norris (76^th) – would need to finish top-3
• Callan O’Reilly (79^th),
  Chris Wood (80^th) and  Ben Wharton (81^st) –
  would need to finish top-2

Players who finish 61-100 on the Order of
Merit are required to attend PGA Tour of Australasia Qualifying School to earn
a category on Tour for 2016, unless they are able to utilise Category 14 via
their National Ranking. Players inside this number on the Order of Merit will
be exempt through to final stage in January.

The following players this week could avoid a trip to first stage Qualifying
School and go straight through to final stage;

• Tom Bond (101^st) –
  needs to make the cut
• Charles Wright (105^th)
  – needs a top-17 finish
• Josh Cabban (106^th)
  – needs a top-14 finish
• Kieran Muir (107^th)
  – needs a top-13 finish
• Aaron Wilkin (109^th)
  and  Chris Gaunt (110^th) – need a top-12 finish
• Alex Hawley (113^th)
  and Daniel Hoeve (114^th) – need a top-10 finish
• Troy Cox (117^th) – needs
  a top-7 finish
• Grant Thomas (118^th) 
  – needs a top-6 finish
• Ben Clementson (123^rd)
  – need a top-5 finish
• Michael Choi (129^th),
  Andrew Campbell (131^st), Chris Thorn (134^th),
  Mitchell Brown (135^th), Luke Humphries (138^th),
  Hayden Beard (140^th), Alex Katholos (148^th) and Theo
  Coroneo (153^rd) – need a top-3 finish
• Andrew Kirkman (154^th)
  and Martin Dive (156^th) – needs a top-2 finish

Players who finish outside of the top-100 on the Order of Merit will be
required to compete at first stage Qualifying School next week.

A win this week will see the champion provided with category 7 and exempt onto
the PGA Tour of Australasia until the end of 2017.

Please note that the calculations above are a guide only and could change
depending on how players higher up the Order of Merit perform at the NSW PGA
Championship this week.

To view the PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit following the Australian PGA
Championship please visit pga.org.au.

To view the full field for the NSW PGA Championship please visit pga.org.au.

The NSW PGA Championship will tee off on Thursday 10th December with the
champion decided on Sunday 13^th December.

Along with the winner’s share of the $110,000 prize purse the champion
will earn status on the PGA Tour of Australasia until the end of 2017 and
Official World Golf Ranking points.