Gillespie relieved after gaining tour card

Wanganui pro Nick Gillespie's OneAsia ranking is on the rise after a healthy pay day at the Nanshan China Masters.PHOTO/FILE

A fifth placing in the Nanshan China Masters was not only a major pay day for Wanganui pro golfer Nick Gillespie, but more importantly, it secures his card for next year's OneAsia tour.

Gillespie, who now plays out of the Royal Wellington Golf Club, carded a one under par four round total of 283, on the back of rounds of 68, 68, 74 and 73.

For this efforts he pocketed $52,000.

"As for dollars in the bank this is my best pay day so far. It's really important for me moving forward as it's been pretty slim pickings this year so it certainly takes a bit of pressure off," he told the Chronicle.

His final round was played in high winds and all players were affected.

"I played solid all week which was nice. Nothing too special but I just didn't hit it into too much trouble which always helps the cause too.

"The course in Nanshan was a strong track and you had to hit it solid. Fortunately, I managed to that week."

Gillespie said the OneAsia tour attracts slightly better fields than the PGA Tour China series he has been playing this year. He is currently ranked 51st on the PGA Tour order of merit but his Hanshan fifth placing shunted him up to 23rd equal on the OneAsia order.

He acknowledged his form this year had fallen away earlier this year.

"My entire game has been a bit of a struggle the first half of the year. I was not only scoring badly but I was also hitting awful shots from time to time which isn't good for the confidence."

But a change of coach and some extra work with a mental coach was a step in the right direction and he's confident things will be on a better footing for the remainder of the year although his game continued to be "a work in progress".

"I'm just trying to get back to having a bit more fun on the golf course and playing with a bit more freedom. So each round of each tournament is it's own little day-to-day battle at the moment ... I'm just taking it a day at a time trying to improve everything just a little bit more than the day before," Gillespie said.

The fifth placing in the China Masters takes the pressure off because it automatically qualifies him for those tournaments in 2015. Now his focus is on the Australia and PGA Tour China series "so I've still got a lot of work to do over the next eight weeks".

"The Australian summer swing is big for us. There's the Perth International [starting today], The Australian Masters, Open and PGA. I'll spend a week between all that up in Shanghai for an event there, so it's a pretty full schedule from now until mid-December."

But for now Gillespie's focus is firmly on the Lake Karrinyup Country Club course in Western Australia when the Perth International tees off.

And he's mixing it with some marquee players. The field includes world No23 Victor Dubuisson, Charl Schwartzel (ranked 24) and Jason Dufner (31) who will lead a strong field chasing $1.75 million in prize money in Australia's richest tour event.

Defending champion Jin Jeong (Korea) is back along with leading Aussies Geoff Ogilvy and Brett Rumford.