Gary Murphy has been handed a hugely important lifeline in his bid to retain his European Tour card - a late invitation to compete in this week's Barclays Singapore Open.

The Kilkenny man slipped to 123rd in the money list when he could only finish 64th in the Castello Masters at the weekend.

He’s now €13,867 outside the vital top 115 but his inclusion in the field at Sentosa is a massive boost to his chances to retain his card.

Barring a maiden tour win, he will not be playing in next week's WGC-HSBC Champions Tournament in Shanghai.

But he will have a final chance to keep his card when he returns to action alongside Tiger Woods in the co-sanctioned Australian Masters from November 12-15.

His invitation to Singapore could not have come at a better time as rivals Kenny Ferrie (116th in the money list), Jyoti Randhawa (118th) and Mark Brown (122nd), Andrew Coltart (124th) and Jean Francois Lucquin (126th) are all playing in the €3.3m Singapore Open.

Padraig Harrington, Paul McGinley, Graeme McDowell, Damien McGrane, Darren Clarke, Peter Lawrie, Shane Lowry and Michael Hoey complete a nine-man Irish contingent.