American glad he heeded old college buddy after stellar season in China

Some sage counsel from a trusted friend has reaped major rewards for Max McGreevy, the newly crowned PGA Tour Series-China player of the year.

Charlie Saxon, runner-up on last year's order of merit and teammate of McGreevy at the University of Oklahoma, advised his buddy to play the 2019 season in China.

One victory and nine top-10 finishes later, on Sunday McGreevy finished atop the money list with 974,153 yuan ($138,000) in earnings following the circuit's final event, the Macao Championship. He donned the gold jacket and lifted the crystal trophy, which are both awarded to the player of the year.

More importantly, McGreevy will be fully exempt on next year's Korn Ferry Tour, meaning he can play in any tournament he chooses on the pathway to the PGA Tour proper.

"I'm super happy with the season. I was really consistent. Unfortunately, I didn't win as much as I thought I could have this year, but I can't really put it into words how good I played this year. I just made birdies when I needed to and limited the mistakes all year long," McGreevy said after finishing in a tie for 41st at Caesars club in Macao, where Canadian Justin Shin recorded a three-shot victory.

"Luckily, I was able to finish high up on the leaderboard nearly almost every week."

McGreevy made his presence felt at the tour's opening event of the season when he finished fourth at the Chongqing Championship.

A tie for second at the Sanya Championship followed by a pair of third-place performances, in Beijing and Nantong, vaulted him into top spot.

The 24-year-old from Edmond, Oklahoma, dropped down to third place in late June but won the Guangzhou Open in mid-July to return to the summit and never relinquished that position for the remainder of the year.

"It really isn't surprising what Max has been able to do on the tour this year," said Greg Carlson, the tour's executive director.

"He played well from the outset, right when he got to China, and he never faltered the entire season.

"We knew he was an accomplished player when he arrived, and he proved what a high-quality player and person he is throughout the season.

"We expect his return to the Korn Ferry Tour will be a success, and we wish him all the best in his future."

The players occupying positions second through fifth on the order of merit earned basic memberships for the Korn Kerry Tour: Americans Trevor Sluman and David Kocher, Cyril Bouniol of France and South Korea's Luke Kwon.

The sixth-through-10th finishers are exempt into the finals of the Korn Ferry Tour qualifying tournament at Orange County National's two courses (Crooked Cat and Panther Lake) in Winter Garden, Florida (Dec 12-15). They are Canada's Richard Jung, China's Bai Zhengkai, Japan's Yuwa Kosaihira and Americans Kevin Techakanokboon and Joey Lane.

The 2019 Korn Ferry Tour season begins in mid-January.

"I've already had one season on the Korn Ferry Tour, and it didn't go the way I had hoped," McGreevy said of his 2018 campaign.

"I am excited to go back there next season and looking forward to having a better season.

"The way I played this year in China is a good springboard for me."

A total of 50 PGA Tour cards are up for grabs on the Korn Ferry circuit.

Players can qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour through the qualifying tournament or by securing top-five money list finishes on the PGA Tour Series-China, PGA Tour Latinoamerica and the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada.

Previous qualifiers from the Chinese tour include homegrown stars Li Haotong, currently ranked No 53 in the world, and Zhang Xinjun, who is back competing on the PGA Tour again and finished tied-fourth at last weekend's Houston Open in Texas.

PGA Tour Series-China order of merit final standings:

1 Max McGreevy (US) 974,153 yuan

2. Trevor Sluman (US) 787,865

3. David Kocher (US) 771,337

4. Cyril Bouniol (France) 674,968

5. Luke Kwon (South Korea) 668,359

6. Richard Jung (Canada) 608,044

7. Bai Zhengkai (China) 591,785

8. Yuwa Kosaihira (Japan) 535,020

9. Kevin Techakanokboon (US) 487,808

10. Joey Lane (US) 477,508