Richard Bland has jetted off to the other side of the world as he looks to nail down a place in the European Tour’s Final Series.

The Southampton ace continued his fine campaign at the rain-affected Portugal Masters last week, finishing in a tie for fourth.

Bland, pictured, is now up to 69th in the order of merit, and is in with a strong chance of making it into some of the Tour’s prestigious end-of-year events.

He will look to use the last two tournaments of the regular season to secure a prized place, beginning with this week’s Hong Kong Open, before heading off to Australia for the Perth International.

“I’m looking forward to going out there and playing,” said the Stoneham player.

“I’m desperate to make those end events, because it’s huge. It can open lots of doors for you.”

The Final Series consists of four big-money tournaments, culminating in the DP World Tour Championship, in Dubai.

One of those – the WGC HSBC Champions – is out of reach, but Bland’s current standing gives him a good chance of making the first of the competitions – the BMW Masters, in China – at the end of the month, as well as the Turkish Airlines Open in mid-November.

If he can force his way in, and climb into the top 60 in the order of merit after those events, he would earn a spot in Dubai.

“I’ve got a good chance of getting into China and Turkey and, if I can do that, and play well in those two, then I could make Dubai,” he said.

“I really love the courses I’m going to play – Fanling (in Hong Kong) and Lake Karrinyup (in Perth).

“They’re not big courses. You’ve got to play your way around both of them, which evens the playing field out a bit, because the bombers don’t get a distinct advantage.

“There’s a lot of irons off the tee and position play, and I like those kind of places.

“I’m playing well, so I fancy my chances, I really do.”

Bland’s performance in Portugal proved to be a particularly important one, as an administrative error meant he had not been entered for Hong Kong, and therefore needed a top-ten result to qualify for this week.

The stop-start tournament was eventually declared after 36 holes, because of torrential rain, with Bland on 11-under-par.

Although that suited him in many ways, the 41-year-old admitted he would have liked a shot at chasing down runaway leader Alexander Levy (-18).

“I thought I was down to play Hong Kong, but I found out a week ago I wasn’t entered,” he said.

“The girl who looks after all my PA stuff forgot to enter me, so I needed a top ten – so, in that respect, it all worked out quite nicely.

“I’m guaranteed next week, I’ve got a good jump up the order of merit, and have a good chance to make the Final Series, which I’m desperate to do, but I would have liked to have seen what I could have done.”