Dubai: Forty-four players are competing for just 15 European Tour cards in the Dubai Festival City Challenge Tour Grand Final at Al Badia Golf Club from Wednesday to Saturday.

England’s Andrew Johnston leads the 27-stage Challenge Tour series, which serves as a feeder to the European Tour, after recording five podium finishes — including two wins — heading into the finale.

But Germany’s Moritz Lampert, with four podiums including three wins, and South Korea’s An Byeong-hun, with four podiums including one win, can still overtake Johnston at the top.

Johnston, 25, won in France and Scotland and took additional podiums in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Spain, comes into the final off the back of a brief injury lay-off.

“It’s good to be back, especially in Dubai with the nice weather,” he said. “It’s awesome here, it’s my first time to Dubai and the course is great so it’s been really good so far.

“I’ve been back at home for the last few weeks so the weather is slightly different to say the least. I was training a lot and I picked up a little injury so I couldn’t play. I had planned to go down and play in Portugal and then go on to Oman the following week but I couldn’t.

“It’s not too bad now. I definitely feel like I can play some good golf out here. My game feels good so I’m looking forward to it. I’ve got to try and prepare well and do my best and give myself the best chance for this week and see what happens.

“It’s really important for me to be the Challenge Tour number one at the end of this week. My goal is to finish top. If you told me at the start of this year I would be top of the rankings going into the Grand Final, I would not have believed you.”

You can register for free tickets to the 2014 Dubai Festival City Challenge Tour Grand Final by visiting www.challengetour.albadiagolfclub.ae

At the other end of the standings, the likes of former European Tour event winners Johan Edfors and Jeppe Huldahl, as well as rising stars such as former Walker Cup players Max Orrin and Steven Brown, still have work to do to in the season-ending event to secure their European Tour card with a top-15 finish.