By Tony Webeck

Sarah Kemp has taken a crucial step towards keeping her LPGA Tour card with a top-10 finish at the Kroger Queen City Championship in Cincinnati.

Ranked No.100 on the Race to CME Globe standings prior to Round 1, Kemp spoke of the pressure associated with riding the tightrope of Tour security.

With eight events left in the season, Kemp’s tie for eighth at Kenwood Country Club moves her to 88th in the season-long points race with some breathing room in the top-100 cut-off that determines who keeps full status for the following year.

“This is huge,” Kemp admitted.

“I was 100 on CME, so I won't be anymore, which is great. It's a little pressure taken off going into the last few events.

“It's exactly what I needed to do and I did it, so it was great.”

Kemp earned her first individual top-10 finish of the year with a closing round of even par 72 on Sunday, 10 shots back of American victor Ally Ewing.

It came a week after a missed cut which failed to shake her belief that a good result was not far off.

“I played pretty good last week and missed the cut by two,” Kemp added.

“It's a funny game. I stayed really patient this week and didn't panic by missing the cut last week. I rolled it great and they just didn't go in; this week some did.

“I've been lingering around the 90 to 100 for quite a while. I've been playing OK but I knew I needed a good finish coming in.

“Top 10 is just awesome to start finishing out the year. Really cool.”

Birdies at the two closing par 5s helped to elevate Scott Hend up the leaderboard at the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship at the Wentworth Club in Surrey.

As Min Woo Lee sought to repeat his extraordinary second round of 10-under 62 it was Hend who made the most progress in Sunday’s final round.

Despite a double bogey at nine, Hend turned in two-under and then picked up shots at 10, 17 and 18 for a closing five-under 67 and a tie for 32nd as Shane Lowry completed a bogey-free week for a one-shot win.

Incredibly, the other four Australians who made the cut all finished on the same score, eight-under 208, for a share of 42nd.

Travis Smyth also closed with a 67 to be the highest-placed Australian at the Shinhan Donghae Open with Stuart Appleby’s tie for 41st the best of the Aussies at the Champions Tour’s Ascension Charity Classic in Missouri. Results

LPGA Tour Kroger City Queen Championship Kenwood Country Club (Kendale Cse), Cincinnati, Ohio Winner Ally Ewing 69-64-67-66—266 $US262,500 8 Sarah Kemp 66-68-70-72—276 $43,589 T24 Hannah Green 70-70-72-70—282 $15,028 MC Minjee Lee 76-69—145 MC Sarah Jane Smith 77-69—146 MC Karis Davidson 76-71—147 DP World Tour

BMW PGA Championship Wentworth Club, Virginia Water, Surrey, England Event reduced to 54 holes following passing of Queen Elizabeth II Winner Shane Lowry 66-68-65—199 €1,351,105.60 T32 Scott Hend 70-70-67—207 €56,428.53 T42 Maverick Antcliff 69-69-70—208 €41,327.94 T42 Min Woo Lee 76-62-70—208 €41,327.94 T42 Adam Scott 69-70-69—208 €41,327.94 T42 Jason Scrivener 66-69-73—208 €41,327.94 MC Lucas Herbert 69-72—141 MC Wade Ormsby 74-72—146 WD Ryan Fox 73 Japan Golf Tour/Asian Tour/Korean PGA

The 38th Shinhan Donghae Open KOMA Country Club, Nara Prefecture, Japan Winner Kazuki Higa 66-63-70-65—264 ¥23,864,400 T32 Travis Smyth 67-70-68-67—272 ¥967,834 T38 Brad Kennedy 66-68-71-68—273 ¥827,299 MC Junseok Lee 69-71—140 MC Won Joon Lee 74-66—140 MC Todd Sinnott 72-70—142 MC Ben Campbell 72-70—142 MC Brendan Jones 70-72—142 MC Jake Higginbottom 74-72—146 MC Daniel Fox 75-72—147

Champions Tour

Ascension Charity Classic Norwood Hills Country Club, St Louis, Missouri Winner Padraig Harrington 65-66-68—199 T5 Steven Alker 66-68-69—203 T41 Stuart Appleby 70-68-74—212 T51 Rod Pampling 68-70-75—213 T57 David McKenzie 67-72-75—214