PAUL Dwyer plans to crown an eventful summer by winning a place on next year's European Tour.

Starting with the Norwegian Open which teed-off today, the 27-year-old pro can boost his chances of making the final stages of the European Tour School with three impressive finishes over the next four weeks.

At the moment, Dwyer currently lies 100th in the Challenge Tour Order of Merit which means he will get exempted to stage two of qualifying.

But if he can put a string of performances together and break into the top 45 then he would automatically go straight through to the final stages in Spain later in the year.

"My target has got to be to get into the top 45," said Dwyer, who is attached to Clitheroe. "That way I'll then get exempted to final qualifying and that will increase my chances of getting a tour card.

"It's a tall order at this stage but nothing is impossible."

Dwyer has three chances to strengthen his Order of Merit position over the next few weeks.

After the Norwegian Open, which started in Losby today, he will then compete in the Mastercard Challenge at Formby Hall before jetting out to Italy for the Tessali Open. And, boosted by his 10th place finish in the Russian Open last week, he is confident of mounting a grandstand finale to the season.

"My performance in Moscow was encouraging," said Dwyer, who also qualified for The Open earlier in the summer.

"I had a very good first round which put me right up with the leaders and then held onto that after round two.

"And although I slipped up in the third round I managed to hold it together on the last day.

"So the more events like that you can play in the better. And if I can do it once, then I can do it again."

Competition for European Tour cards is certain to be fierce.

Stage one takes place in September at five courses across the UK. The top 30 from each will then join a clutch of exempt players in stage two, held at three different venues in Spain.

Then the best 90 from there go forward to final qualifying, together with another pool of exempted professionals, where they will battle it out for 40 full tour cards.

"It's very, very tough competition," said Dwyer, who has never got beyond stage two.

"Even in the first two stages, if you shoot over par for the four rounds then you won't get through.

"So if you can miss one or both of those out it's a big help."