Former PGA TOUR player Michael Sim has played his way into the field for this week’s Rust Oleum Championship on the Web.com Tour with a 5-under-par 67 at the Monday qualifier.

Sim, a four-time winner on the secondary circuit, is looking to play his way back to the top of the game after a lengthy run of injuries derailed one of the most promising careers of the last decade.

Sim earned a ‘Battlefield Promotion’ to the PGA TOUR in 2009 after winning three times in a single season on the Web.com Tour but never got to take full advantage as a series of injuries curtailed his ability to play.

Sim’s Monday performance sees him tee up on the Web.com Tour for the first time since 2014 and swells the Australian contingent to seven for the week.

Also playing in Illinois are Steve Allan, Mark Hensby, Rhein Gibson, Jamie Arnold, Robert Allenby and Peter Lonard.

Of those only Lonard, Allan and Gibson have played the event previously with Gibson’s T50 in 2015 the best result among the three.

However, with the season almost at its halfway mark there is a sense of urgency among the Australians with none currently close to the top-25 on the money list who will earn PGA TOUR cards for 2018.

Rhein Gibson is currently best placed at 55^th in the standings while Robert Allenby (84^th), Jamie Arnold (96^th) and Steve Allan (99^th) have work to do.

Stuart Appleby, who is playing the PGA TOUR this week, is 76^th on the standings while Peter Lonard is outside the top 150 though will shortly transfer to the Champions Tour.