ROOKIE Charlestown professional Blake Windred hopes his efforts at the Australian Open were enough to earn an invite to the Australian PGA Championships - his playing card could hinge on it.
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Windred was in contention for 63 holes at his maiden national championship before a couple of unlucky breaks at The Australian on Sunday stalled his challenge.
He closed with a two-over 74 to finish tied for 16th at four under - 11 strokes behind winner Matt Jones.
"I was pretty shattered," Windred said. "Every week you always feel you can do better. That's golf. This is my job now and I need to be able to get over that quick smart and move on to the next tournament. Overall, finishing 16th and earning some money to move me up the order of merit is a great start and something to build on."
Windred, who has two top-10 finishes and has made the cut in all four tournaments since turning professional in October, needed to climb into the top five at the Aussie Open to gain automatic entry into the $1.5 million Australian PGA at Royal Pines Resort from December 19-22.
He has written a letter to the Australian PGA requesting an exemption.
"I have my fingers crossed but I haven't heard anything yet," he said. "I need another opportunity to get up higher on the Aussie order of merit. You need to be in the top 50 to get a card for next year. I'm 46th at the moment, but if everyone else has an event worth $1.5million to play then I'll be in big trouble.
"If I don't get an invite I will go up there and play the Monday qualifier."
There are six qualifying places available.
Fellow Novocastrians James Nitties, Nick Flanagan, Jake Higginbottom, Aaron Townsend and Cal O'Reilly are in the field.
Windred is not looking beyond the Gold Coast at this point, but hopes to confirm an invite to play six Challenge Events on the European second tier next year.
"I might go to the final stage of Asian qualifying school," he said. "I am just going to try and go everywhere. It's like handing out a resume to get a job. You hand it in everywhere and try to get something to build on. I just need to keep working hard."
