Lucas Herbert has completed his arduous quest to earn full status on the European Tour with a tie for second at the Portugal Masters in Vilamoura.

The move from 103rd to 64th in the Race to Dubai standings was the lucrative consolation prize after the 22-year-old let a two-shot lead through 54 holes slip with a closing 71, three shots behind winner Tom Lewis and level with Englishman Eddie Pepperell.

The final margin of victory is somewhat deceiving as Herbert had the chance to draw level at the 17th hole but missed his birdie chance and then a poor tee shot at the last saw him end an otherwise outstanding week with a double-bogey.

Playing on the last of his allowed seven invites and the expectation that the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship would be his last event of the year, Herbert earned 201,938 Race to Dubai points – not to mention E173,710 in prize money – that will allow him to expand his schedule.

The top 70 players following the Valderrama Masters qualify for the first of the finals series events, the Turkish Airlines Open, but a disappointed Herbert was more satisfied with securing full status for 2019 and set his sights on an even greater goal.

“The goal at the start of the year was to get a main Tour card and we’ve done that, so that’s a pretty good feeling,” Herbert said.

“Moving up the World Rankings is obviously the goal. Give myself the best chance by the end of next year to make the Presidents Cup team.

“If I can keep doing this I’m not going too far wrong I hope.

“I can’t be too critical of myself and I have to try to take the positives at the moment even though it’s not ideal not winning after carrying a lead into the last round.

“If I keep putting myself here enough times, surely one of them has to work out?

"It’s hard with golf, you don’t win very often. It’s pretty clichéd but you have to try to take the positives.

“I played three really good rounds under pressure when I needed to to get my card, so I’ll try to think about that when I look back at this week.”

At the beginning of the year Herbert attended qualifying schools in both Canada and China but after taking affiliate status on the European Tour following the Australian PGA Championship, finished third at the co-sanctioned ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth to open the door.

At the start of the week in Portugal he required some 40,000 points in order to earn more starts but after playing in Oman, China, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Sweden, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands this year he can set a more certain schedule next year.

Herbert wasn’t the only Australian to make a significant move in the Race to Dubai rankings with West Australian Jason Scrivener edging closer to retaining his card for 2019.

Starting the week with a 5-under par round of 66, Scrivener’s four rounds in the 60s saw him finish in a tie for 12th and move up from the precarious position of 110th in the standings to a slightly more comfortable 99th.

After roaring back into contention on Saturday with a third round of 64 Kiwi Ryan Fox’s closing 71 saw him finish the week tied for 27th with countryman Josh Geary and Aussie Jason Norris tied for 56th at 7-under par.

Dimi Papadatos remains in 14th position on the Road to Ras Al Khaimah standings on the European Challenge Tour despite missing the cut at the Hopps Open de Provence in France, Romain Langasque recording a three-shot win.

The second phase of First Stage European Tour Qualifying School also came to a close over the weekend with Brett Rankin and Bryden MacPherson both advancing to Second Stage from the Austrian leg.

A second round of 7-under 65 propelled Rankin to a fourth-place finish but MacPherson had to do it the hard way.

Entering the final round tied for 44th, the Victorian had seven birdies and a solitary bogey in a 6-under 66 that saw him vault up the leaderboard to a tie for 20th and one of the last qualifying spots.

Three of the top seven Chinese golfers in the world have booked their tickets to the Fiji International presented by Fiji Airways.

Teeing off at Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course next week Wu Ashun, Xiao Bowen and Liu Yanwei will all be contesting the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia, Asian Tour and European Tour tri-sanctioned tournament.

Ashun, the second highest ranked Chinese player in the Official World Golf Rankings, will make his second appearance in Fiji after he teed it up in the inaugural Fiji International presented by Fiji Airways.

While he missed the cut in 2014, he returns with great excitement to play the Natadola Bay layout which will look vastly different thanks to the Vijay Singh re-design completed last year.

“I have great memories of Fiji, it is a very beautiful country and the course location, on the seaside, offered great views to enjoy while playing golf,” said Ashun.

“I remember it was very windy and a challenging course, but I have heard the changes made by Vijay Singh are very good and I look forward to playing the Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course again.”

Joining Ashun, is his countryman, Xiao Bowen who broke through for his first career victory last year at the Asian Tour’s KG S&H City Asian Golf Championship.

While this year has been more of a challenge for the 28-year-old, who played outside of China for the first time just last year, he is hoping to recapture his winning form in Fiji.

“I feel privileged to have the opportunity to play golf in Fiji. It looks very different to China and I look forward to experiencing another country,” said Bowen.

“However I do have work to do in Fiji, a good result at the Fiji International presented by Fiji Airways, would be a big boost to my results this season.”

The final tournament invite to the Fiji International presented by Fiji Airways was given to 21-year-old Liu Yanwei.

“I am honoured to receive the final invite into the Fiji International presented by Fiji Airways and am very much looking forward to playing my best golf at the Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course,” said Yanwei.

One of the largest golfing nations in the world, China is also a key tourism market for Fiji and the Fijian Government look forward to welcoming some the leading Chinese players to the Fiji International presented by Fiji Airways.

“China is a key tourism market for Fiji and as we look forward to continuing Fiji’s expansion into the golf tourism industry it makes sense for us to welcome these fine Chinese golfers to the Fiji International presented by Fiji Airways,” said The Honourable Faiyaz Siddiq Koya, Minister for Industry, Trade, Tourism, Lands and Mineral Resources.

“Broadcasted around the world, the tournament provides significant exposure for Fiji as a golf destination and we hope that Chinese golf fans will be tuning in to support their countrymen as they look to become the 2018 Champion.”

The addition of the Chinese contingent bolsters the Fiji International presented by Fiji Airways field which will be headlined by Major Champion and Presidents Cup International Team Captain Ernie Els as well as local hero and fellow Major Champion Vijay Singh.

“The Fiji International presented by Fiji Airways is truly an international tournament both in the number of countries it is broadcast to and the nations represented by the players in the field,” said Gavin Kirkman, CEO of the PGA of Australia which owns the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia.

“We look forward to welcoming Wu Ashun back to Fiji and showcasing the beautiful country to Xiao Bowen and Liu Yanwei for the first time. We are confident, that like all players who have attended the tournament, they will return home thoroughly impressed by Fiji making them excellent ambassadors for golf in the country.”

Every week is an opportunity in professional golf though some weeks are bigger opportunities than others. For Lucas Herbert, the Fiji International presented by Fiji Airways is one of those weeks.

It’s been a hectic 2018 season for the 22-year-old Victorian who began the year with no playing status outside Australia but by the mid-point of July has played two Majors and earned cards on two international Tours.

A promising amateur who was ranked as high as third in the world before turning professional in late 2015, Herbert really began to come into his own at the back end of 2017.

He parlayed a runner-up finish to Jason Scrivener at the NSW Open into a T6 result at the Australian Open where he played both Saturday and Sunday alongside Jason Day, an experience he says has been a huge help in 2018.

“I was pretty nervous going into that Saturday round,” he says. “We spoke about it amongst my team and it probably matured me about three years that weekend.

“The exposure to him and then playing well…I felt like I belonged and if he’s top-10 in the world then I know I can be right there and I got a lot out of that.

“Going forward with that knowledge has been so helpful this year in getting up around the lead and helping me feel like I belong out there.”

That feeling of belonging can be one of the most difficult transitions to make going from the top of the amateur game to the bottom of the Professional game and more than one promising career has faltered at this hurdle.

Herbert, though, is embracing the challenge that is week to week professional play and the bigger the stage the more he enjoys it.

He even had the bravado to barge his way into a practise round with Tiger Woods at The Open at Carnoustie.

“I was expecting to get brushed, to be honest, because I’d already been brushed by a couple of others,” he says with a laugh.

“I put my name down with Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka but they moved to a different time so they could play with another couple of their regular practise guys.

“Then I put my name down next to Rory but he moved his name as well so I was onto my third top player to try and get a round with.

“I put my name down next to Tiger and I was stoked that it actually happened. I went up to him on the practise green and introduced myself and shook his hand, told him what I’d done and said if he didn’t want to play with me it would be no drama.

“But he was great about it. He turned up about 15 minutes late to the tee so even at that stage I wasn’t really expecting to play with him but it did happen and it was great.”

Herbert said he learned a lot from the 14-time Major winner, particularly about preparing for big events, but came away most impressed by one of Woods’ most famous attributes: his iron clad belief in himself.

“It was pretty amazing to see up close,” he says. “We were getting ready to hit off one of the tees there on the Tuesday and a guy from the crowd yelled out ‘Tiger, what are your chances this week?’ and without blinking an eye he just said ‘I’m going to win.’

“He didn’t even turn around. It was almost as if he was thinking ‘What did you think I would say?’

“He didn’t say it the way some 15-year-old kid might say it if they just got just got their first start in a pro tournament and they were asked what they thought their chances were. He believed it, genuinely and 100 per cent.

“It was…I don’t know, there was just something about the way he said it. And then of course, he nearly did win so it worked.”

Herbert, too, has great – and growing – confidence in his abilities and knows some people find that off putting.

But he says he is driven by the desire to succeed and if that sometimes comes off as cocky then so be it.

“I’d like to think I’m maturing as a person,” he says, somewhat reflectively. “Not too many people seem to dislike me a lot.

“I understand that my personality is what it is and there will be some people who don’t like me and some will think I’m cocky.

“But I don’t know that cocky is a bad personality trait to have in people and I quite admire it. People who are cocky and who will go to the next level in their field are people I admire because not everybody is prepared to do that.”

All of which points to a potentially big week for Herbert at Natadola Bay as he looks to parlay some good results from limited starts in Europe into a full-fledged card for next season.

One of the biggest disappointments of finishing bogey, double bogey at Carnoustie was the Race to Dubai points it cost him and with uncertainty about how many more starts he will get in 2018 the week in Fiji looms large in his plans for next year.

“I need to get into the top 110 (he’s currently 122^nd) but I’m not sure how many starts I’ll have to do it,” he says.

“I will get to play the Dunhill Links because of my position on the PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit but there are no guarantees beyond that.

“So the Fiji International is a pretty important week for me in the big picture and I’m really looking forward to the chance to perform.”

Herbert has played the tournament twice previously though never made the cut, a statistic he finds a little surprising.

“I really like the golf course and I feel like it sets up well for my game,” he says. “The fairways are quite wide and there are two driveable par-4’s and the par-5’s are in reach for me.

“I haven’t played my best there before but everything feels a bit different this year. I’ve played a lot more tournament golf for a start and have a lot more experience than before.

“In the past I’ve arrived with not a lot of tournament play under my belt and some financial pressure to perform as well but that’s all different this year so hopefully the result will be different as well.”

There’s no question Herbert has the physical tools to contend and after what he’s already achieved in 2018 there’s no reason he can’t be at the business end of the leaderboard come Sunday afternoon.

That is certainly his intention and despite the high stakes nature of the week he is embracing the challenge.

“This is what Professional golf is,” he says. “Everyone experiences pressure in their jobs, whether it be an important meeting they have to go to or project they’ve got to manage.

“It’s the same for me. I’ve got a pretty important three months coming up for me and I’ve just got to nail it.”

In its short history the Fiji International presented by Fiji Airways has had a knack for identifying winners with great stories to tell, from Steven Jeffress in 2014 to perhaps Australian golf’s most popular victory with Jason Norris last year.

If Herbert’s name were to find its way onto the trophy it would fit nicely in that category, the maiden win of a player who seems destined for the world stage.

“Lucas is a great example of the extraordinarily talented young players Australia is producing at the moment,” says

Gavin Kirkman, CEO of the PGA of Australia which owns the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia.

“I think all of us are looking forward to watching his career unfold and it’s exciting to have him back in Fiji.

“He’s fantastic with the media and the fans and he proved he can do all of that and still produce top class golf when he went close at the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth so it will be exciting to see what he does at Natadola Bay.”

A blistering final round of 8-under 64 has seen Lucas Herbert finish one shot out of a playoff at the European Tour’s Rocco Forte Open, the T3 result guaranteeing him another start on the Tour this week.

One of the hottest players of the Australian Summer of Golf, Herbert has kept his good form going in 2018 with cards earned on both the PGA Tour Series China as well as the Canadian Tour.

But after receiving a sponsor’s invitation to this week’s tournament in Europe Herbert has taken a significant step towards earning his place on a bigger stage and will take plenty of confidence to Belgium for the Belgian Knockout this week.

Herbert began the day eight shots off the pace and after opening with a birdie gave the shot back at the second.

Things heated up from there, though, with three more birdies on the way to the turn before a scintillating back-9.

Herbert birdied the 10th, 12th, 15th, 17th and 18th and from a share of ninth set the clubhouse target at 15-under with two players still on course at 16-under.

Neither Joakim Lagergren nor Mike Lorenzo Vera stumbled with Lagergren eventually prevailing in extra time but Herbert will be more than satisfied with his effort.

He was the best of the eight Australasians in the field, Nick Cullen next best in a share of 26th after a decent week of his own.

Making a rare European Tour appearance Matt Millar impressed once again, making the cut and finishing T58 despite playing little tournament golf recently.

He was the last of the Australasians to qualify for the weekend, Jordan Zunic missing the cut by one shot after an agonising bogey on his 36th hole.

After a T5 finish alongside Marcus Fraser last year Jason Scrivener would have taken some confidence into the week but battled with scores of 76-71 to miss the cut by two.

Fraser also found the going tougher than 2017 with 71-76 to be at the same total, Josh Geary and Jack Munro several shots further back.

Australians Lucas Herbert and DJ Loypur, Canada’s Richard Jung and Sweden’s Oskar Arvidsson all shot 5-under 67 to share the first round lead at the PGA TOUR Series-China International Qualifying Tournament No. 1 at Mission Hills Haikou in Hainan. American Jeffrey Kang and Japan’s Koki Ishihara both shot 69 to tie for fifth.

The top-15 finishers over the 7,147-yard Sandbelt Trails Course will earn full cards on the 2018 PGA TOUR Series-China, while the next 25 finishers will be conditionally exempt. The top-five on this year’s Order of Merit will earn status on the 2019 Web.com Tour, the path to the PGA TOUR.

Herbert, eighth on the 2017 ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit, racked up his eighth birdie of the day at the par-5 18th to join the leaders, having suffered a wobble with a double bogey and a bogey at Nos. 13 and 14 respectively.

“It was pretty good out there. Early on I was cruising, hitting a lot of good shots and making a couple of putts here and there. I had a couple of blips on the back-9 but managed to finish off really well. I birdied three of the last four, so that was a good note to finish on. I’m also really happy to see DJ shot 5-under,” said Herbert, who tied for eighth at last month’s SMBC Singapore Open to earn a place at The 147th Open at Carnoustie.

“I plan to go and shoot another low round tomorrow morning. If I can get myself far enough ahead of that bubble for the top-15, it just takes a lot of stress off the last couple of days. I don’t really want to be stressing too much on Sunday.”

Loypur, who played practice rounds with Herbert, was first in with a 67. Teeing off at the 10th, the Melbourne resident mixed birdies at 13, 14 and 18 with a bogey at 15 for a 2-under first nine.

Boosted by back-to-back birdies at holes 2 and 3, he briefly moved to 6-under after an unlikely eagle at the par-5 17th before finishing with a bogey.

“I holed a good putt for the eagle. I actually pulled my drive way left, and my caddie said ‘no good’, but I knew there was room out there. It was in the rough, and it was fine. I hit a really good second shot to 40 feet or so and holed a long putt. It was a pretty solid round,” said Loypur, who turned pro in January 2016.

“The Web.com Tour is a really good incentive, and I think this Tour is going to be really good, with 14 or so events, so it would be a good place to play golf this year.”

This week’s 120-player field features players from 16 countries and territories across Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America, with the largest contingents from the U.S. (34) and South Korea (29).

After a one-year hiatus, PGA TOUR Series-China will resume in March with a 14-tournament schedule, with each tournament offering RMB 1.5 million, a 25-percent increase over purse levels from 2016. The Mainland China Qualifying Tournament for China passport holders will be held at Wolong Lake Golf Club in Liuzhou City in Guangxi from February 27-March 2 (Tuesday-Friday).

The PGA TOUR established PGA TOUR Series-China in 2014 as its third international developmental tour, following in the footsteps of PGA TOUR Latinoamerica and the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada. Since its inception, PGA TOUR Series-China players have received Official World Golf Ranking points for top finishes at official tournaments.

The in-form Lucas Herbert takes aim at a card on the reborn PGA Tour-China this week at the first of two International Qualifying Schools for the 2018 season.

The Victorian is one of nine Australians making the journey to Mission Hills Haikou’s Sandbelt Trails Course in search of a place to play in 2018.

Having wrapped up a berth in the field for July’s Open Championship with a T8 finish at the Singapore Open, it is a confident Herbert who tackles this week’s test, the first step in a journey he hopes will end at the PGA TOUR.

There will be 120 starters this week, with Herbert and co hoping to be among the top-15 to earn full status at the end. The next 25 finishers earn conditional cards while the top five money earners at the end of the season are rewarded with status on the Web.com Tour.

“The PGA TOUR is the ultimate ambition,” said Herbert. “I love being in America so any way to play a Tour that will get me status there I’ll take with two hands.

“I’d like to play on this Tour in China and in Canada (Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada) and give myself some options for the middle of the year, when the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia is quiet.”

Herbert is joined in the field this week by Nabil Abdul, Doeun An, Joe Darcy, Corey Hale, DJ Loypur, Andrew Schonewille, Brady Watt and Kevin Yuan.

Hamza Amin is also entered but according to the Tour’s website his “participation is in doubt due to visa complications.”

Jazz Janewattananond, Danthai Boonma, Sean Crocker and Lucas Herbert secured their places in The 147th Open after qualifying at the SMBC Singapore Open today.

The tournament is co-sanctioned between the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour and was the third event in The Open Qualifying Series, which gives players the chance to book their place at Carnoustie from 15-22 July 2018.

All four players will make their first appearance in The Open at the iconic Scottish links after finishing as the leading four players in the top 12 and ties who were not already exempt.

Janewattananond and Boonma, both from Thailand, finished tied for fourth place on an eight-under-par total of 276, six strokes behind winner Sergio Garcia and one shot behind Satoshi Kodaira and Shaun Norris who were tied for second place. Garcia, Kodaira and Norris have already secured their places in The Open this July.

Janewattananond grasped the first qualifying place courtesy of his higher position in the Official World Golf Ranking and carded a steady level-par 71 during today’s final round on the Serapong Course at Sentosa Golf Club.

Boonma took the second qualifying place despite posting a round of 73, two-over-par, and can look back on yesterday’s third round 65 as a primary factor in leading to his debut appearance in golf’s most international major championship.

Crocker rolled in four birdies on his way to a two-under-par 69 to finish tied for sixth place with Emirates Australian Open champion Cameron Davis, who secured his place in The Open in November last year following his win at The Australian Golf Club.

The American, who is the son of Zimbabwean international cricketer Gary Crocker and has been mentored by 1994 Champion Golfer of the Year Nick Price, claimed the third qualifying place on a seven-under-par total of 277.

Herbert finished in a tie for eighth place one shot further back on six-under-par alongside Gavin Green, Miguel Tabuena and Berry Henson.

Green had already sealed his place at Carnoustie after topping the 2017 Asian Tour Order of Merit and Herbert faced a nervous moment when Henson had a birdie putt to move to seven-under-par on the final hole.

The Australian’s anxiety turned to elation as the attempt fell short of the hole and Herbert secured the final qualifying place courtesy of his higher position in the Official World Golf Ranking, ahead of both Henson and Tabuena.

“To win a major is a career goal of mine so obviously the first step is to get into one. To play in The Open will be a great experience," said Herbert.

“I played Carnoustie at The Amateur Championship so I’ve seen the course in tournament conditions. It’s really tough but I took away a lot experience of playing there and I’ll look to draw upon that.

“I remember watching Padraig Harrington winning The Open after the play-off and Sergio just missing that putt just before. Those were my first memories of watching The Open.”

Lucas Herbert certainly wasn’t overawed by former World Number 1 Jason Day today.

He remained on 9-under and will tee off with the Queenslander just one shot behind in the final round of the Australian Open.

Victorian Lucas Herbert ensured the young brigade continue to dominate the Emirates Australian Open on Friday morning.

Taking advantage of the conditions, Herbert came out firing early and was 3-under after six holes.

On the back-9 found another two birdies but finished with a bogey after being forced to lay-up, a tactic foreign to his game, on the 18^th hole.

“I warmed up this morning and it felt really good, and I was like, I hope this sticks around for not only today, but the next three days because that was, like it just felt so good coming off the range this morning,” said Herbert who went on to fire 5-under 66 and be 9-under the card after two days.

“I’m definitely trying to be a smarter golfer, obviously chipping out on 18 there, that was pretty hard to do.

“I don’t really take lay ups too easily, it’s hard to talk me into them but I managed to get talked into laying up there.”

2015 champion Matt Jones, playing his home course, fired 4-under this morning moving his way up the leaderboard.

“I played much better than yesterday.  Of course, the conditions were a lot easier, but I hit a lot of good shots, made a lot of putts and I think my only bogey was on the last hole, which was disappointing, but you’re going to have them, and I’m in a good position for tomorrow,” said Jones, who plays his National Open for the first time since winning it.

“Jordan’s defending, he won. Of course, it was disappointing not to come back and defend, I don’t get to defend too often, and it was just a choice I had to make.  It was a tough one, but it’s one I had.”

Cameron Smith fired his second round of 69 and joins Jones at tied 5^th on the leaderboard.

“I’ve had a few weeks off, so the bit of competition rust I guess you could call it, is starting to wear off,” said Smith.

“I feel really good with my game, I feel really good with my driver and my irons.  I’ve just got to get the putts to go in over the weekend.”

A birdie at the 9^th, his final hole, ensured World Number 2 Jordan Spieth fired an even par round as he struggled with his putter.

“I saw a putt go in and I told Cameron early in the round, I get one to go, it’ll all start going, it just unfortunately took me 17 holes to make one,” said Speith.

“That was my second one-putt of the day, the other coming from about four feet for a par on the 13^th.

“It just was a bad day with the flat stick; it happens.”

Spieth will have an early tee time on Saturday as he looks to go low and make a move up the leaderboard.

“Given the golf course will start to bake out and you get really calm conditions in the morning that leaves the windier conditions for the afternoon,” added Spieth.

“I’ll have a pretty gettable golf course I imagine in the morning tomorrow with the guys really having to watch themselves in the afternoon.

“If I can post something like 5, 6-under, then I’m very much in this tournament.”

Life on Tour isn’t all private jets and five star hotels…

Sometimes it is much harder when you’re first starting out as Lucas Herbert (who is tied for the Aussie Open lead BTW) explains…