PROFESSIONAL Paul Dwyer, who plays out of Clitheroe, recorded his third top-ten finish on this season's Mastercard Tour to win a place at next week's Challenge Tour event at Bowood, Wiltshire.

And finishing joint sixth at Whitekirk's East Lothian Classic with an eight-over par total of 296 also lifted the 26-year-old a couple of places to 13th in the order of merit in the scramble for exemption places in the European Tour's qualifying school.

However, the immediate priority over the gale-lashed Scottish course was to stay in the top 15 to qualify to play the next leg of the Challenger Tour, which is just one step below the full European programme.

"That was the overriding aim of the week," confirmed Dwyer. "I had to make the cut and make some money to make sure of getting in.

"It's a step up from the Mastercard tour. There will be an international field, rather than just British-based players, and the competition will be a bit more fierce, which is what you want to try and better yourself."

And decent finish at Bowood would also help Dwyer's target for the season, namely a top eight finish on the Mastercard tour which would take him through to stage two of the qualifying school and the chance to win his full tour card. "That's the number one goal on the Mastercard Tour. It takes a lot of pressure off. The first stage seems to be the hardest to get through," added the Simonstone-based player who feels he may need to win one of the last four relevant events to close the £1,100 gap on eighth place.

However, Dwyer, in action in a Players' Tour event at Horsforth today and tomorrow after a lesson with top coach Bill Ferguson yesterday, believes his game is in pretty good shape.

"So far this year I've played in five (Mastercard) tournaments and finished fifth, sixth and eighth and missed two cuts.

"So it's been a bit up and down but once I've been in contention I've stayed there and done reasonably well and been up there at the finish.

"My game's not bad and the season's going all right. I have been a lot closer to winning than I have thought.

"Even though I've finished five or six shots away when I've been in contention I've only been a short or two back at some stage so I'm bordering on doing something a bit good.

"Since I turned professional there's been a steady improvement," added the former Whalley junior, who finished 41st in last season's Mastercard rankings but hopes to be playing in more prestigious surroundings in the not-too-distant future.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.