Rossdale’s Geoff Charnley leads the strong field with 2603 points, 14 ahead of Ian McCleary of Kooringal.

Golf Australia’s Dylan Grandell said it promised to be a close finish.

"At the moment Geoff has a slight lead, but if Ian can win the event he will overtake him," he said.

"They are the only two that can win the rankings. If they both come top three, whoever finishes higher wins. If neither of them get in the top three nothing changes.

"Basically all Geoff has to do is finish ahead of Ian and he will win the rankings."

Grandell said the duo have been battling it out for months.

"Ian sort of had a comfortable lead for most of the year and Geoff has finished off the second half of the year really strongly," he said.

"He won probably our biggest event the Victorian Senior Championship in August or September and went on to win a couple more to take the lead.

"Geoff won at Warrnambool on Tuesday and Wednesday as well. So it has been a story of two halves basically."

The senior event is one of 30 played across Victoria with Friday’s being the last on the calendar for rankings in 2018.

Grandell said Thursday’s field at Port Fairy was full with 108 players which initially saw a waiting list put in place.

He said the Port Fairy and Warrnmabool events were always popular.

"Most players try to come down for the two events as they really enjoy themselves getting to playing down here on the top courses,” he said.

"Especially Port Fairy as I think it is ranked in the top 100 in Australia, both courses might be, but all of the players enjoy playing on two very good courses.

"These are two of the biggest fields we have had for the year, particularly Port Fairy which is up there with some of our real big events."