A runner-up finish at Webex Players Series Victoria on Sunday vaulted the 25-year-old ahead of Christopher Wood into top spot with seven tournaments left on the 2025\/26 schedule.<\/p>\n
The margins remain close, especially considering the big points on offer in the New Zealand Open and ISPS HANDA Japan Australasia Championship in March. In those two events, 760 OOM points will go to each winner compared to the 190 on offer for the victor at Webex Players Series Murray River this week.<\/p>\n
The potential rewards at the end of the season for John \u2013 who leads by 66.45 points \u2013 and his chasers are big, with the OOM winner following the path taken by David Micheluzzi, Kazuma Kobori and Ryan Peake to the DP World Tour, as well as earning a start at The Open Championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously there\u2019s still a bunch of weeks to go,\u201d the new No.1 said ahead of Round 1 at Cobram-Barooga starting on Thursday.<\/p>\n
“I had a good chat with (mindset coach) Ben Crowe last night and we\u2019re just identifying what are some distractions I guess that can potentially come up in the next six or seven events. That\u2019s probably one of them, but it\u2019s one that you want to have.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily a bad distraction, but it\u2019s just something that I\u2019ve identified.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all want to finish on top of the Order of Merit. We all want to play on another Tour, but it is just an opportunity and we just keep playing week in, week out and hopefully it goes my way.\u201d<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s field includes Wood and four other players currently in the top 10 \u2013 James Marchesani (No.4), Nathan Barbieri (No.5), Cory Crawford (No.9) and Jay Mackenzie (No.10).<\/p>\n
Only Wood and Crawford have had wins this season \u2013 at the NSW Open and PNG Open respectively \u2013 while it was almost a third title for John at Rosebud on Sunday until his putter ran cold on the final day, including missing the decisive putt from inside two metres on the fourth hole of the playoff against West Australian Jordan Doull.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s taken the positive out of that close call that his all-round game is still in great shape.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m hitting the ball well. Everything felt like it was going nicely over the weekend, just didn\u2019t roll any putts in,\u201d John said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way I looked at my game was that I was playing better than the guys I played with over the weekend and sometimes it goes that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI watched \u2018Barbs\u2019 (Nathan Barbieri) play the final round of the Vic Open and I didn\u2019t see him make a single putt. It felt like that for me on Sunday just gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
TV COVERAGE<\/p>\n
Webex Players Series Murray River in honour of Jarrod Lyle is live on Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo.<\/p>\n
*All times AEDT. <\/p>\n
Round 3:\u00a0 Saturday 3pm-6pm (Fox Sports 503\/Kayo)<\/p>\n
Final Round:\u00a0 Sunday 1pm-6pm (Fox Sports 503\/Kayo)<\/p>\n
\n \u00a9 Golf Australia. All rights reserved.
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