Dyson's winning goals

Footballer Simon aims for first European Tour win

Bob Warters's picture
Mon, 16 Dec 2002
Dyson's winning goals
Dyson's winning goals
Simon - spoils of success.

Simon Dyson celebrates his 25th birthday on Saturday (December 21) when several of his golfing pals including Luke Donald, Nick Dougherty, Mark Pilkington, Sam Walker and Jamie Donaldson are expected along to his home in Malton, Yorkshire to help him mark the end of another successful year on Tour.

"It will be particularly good to see Luke (Donald) again. He’s probably my closest pal in golf because we played together as amateur quite a bit and in the Walker Cup," Simon told me.

Talking animatedly when he joined Golfmagic competition winner, Ulsterman Alan Clydesdale and myself for a round at Mere Golf and Country Club last week, Simon revealed he has got the idea of joining Donald on the US PGA Tour at some time in the future.

"Obviously with Luke getting his card then winning the Southern Farm Bureau Classic at the end of the year to get an exemption for two years, it’s a great incentive for me.

"But I want a win in Europe first. That’s my goal for 2003. I had fourth and fifth in 2002 at the Johnnie Walker in Perth and the Omega European Masters in Switzerland and I feel I’m pretty close to one now."

Simon got off to a flying start to the season with a ninth place in Hong Kong, 5th in the South African Open and 5th in the Heineken in Australia and effectively secured his card with 7th spot in Dubai.

Dyson's winning goals
Simon with, from the left Euan Armstrong (Ping), Alan Clydesdale and Richard Rayton.

"After that I started messing about with my game trying to hit fades and draws and basically trying to hit all kinds of shots at will. For a time I lost it," he recalled. He missed ten cuts in 15 outings.

Towards the end of the season, however, he re-discovered his form, with the help of his coach Peter Cowen, to finish a creditable 60th in the Volvo Order of Merit.

Nephew of the former Tottenham FA Cup and Championship double-winning footballer Terry Dyson – Simon has his Wembley shirt framed at home – this enthusiastic Yorkshireman comes from a family with a rich sporting pedigree. His grandfather was a jockey and his dad, John, is a bookmaker.

He was encouraged to take up golf by his elder brother, Nick, at the age of ten and made steady progress to achieve scratch rating by the age of 16.

Steve Robinson, the pro at his home club of Malton and Norton, recommended Cowen as a coach and the pair have been together for the past five years. Simon was runner-up in the English Amateur Championship in 1999 but won the Finnish Amateur and was a member of the Great Britain and Ireland side, which won the Walker Cup at Nairn that year.

He remembers his match with David Gossett fondly.

"I should have won 3 & 2 but it was a cracking game and we eventually halved it. We were both three under par while all the other matches were over par. I saw David at a recent Open and we re-lived the match. He’s a smashing lad."

A promising footballer on the books of York and Scarborough – he once scored all five goals in a match and daren’t tell his dad who'd banned him from the soccer pitch to concentrate on his golf. Unfortunately for Simon, the performance gained headlines in his local newspaper!

Dyson's winning goals
Simon Dyson in action.

He turned professional as England's lowest handicap golfer (+3) in September 1999 and was sent by his manager Andrew Chandler to gain valuable experience trying to qualify for the Asian PGA Tour. He gained second card in the Tour School in January 2000 and broke through by winning back-to-back events - the Macao and Volvo China Opens.

His success extended to European where he recovered from rounds of 80 and 75 in European Qualifying School to secure 33rd card, thanks to a six foot birdie putt on the 108th and last hole.

He returned to Asia and won the Omega Hong Kong Open in December 2000 to clinch not only the Asian Tour Order of Merit but Rookie of the Year and Players' Player of the Year.

In 2001 he cemented his card with an 87th place finish in the European Order of Merit and now aims to clinch his playing rights before the end of March at the Dubai Classic.

"That’s my goal for this year," Simon told me before dashing off to watch some of his own heroes play snooker in the UK championships in his native town of York.

"I’m playing two in South Africa – The Open and the Dunhill – then three in Australia (ANZ, Heineken and Johnnie Walker) and the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur. I’ll have a week off before the Dubai Classic and the event in Qatar and have four weeks off before the Portuguese Open.

"Nine events in ten weeks in a tough schedule but I’m young enough and fit enough and love the competition. I don’t go in for all this gymnasium work I can do exercises in my hotel room and I find the schedule and practice keeps me fit."

Simon Dyson is a young player who knows where he’s going and is determined to get there in a hurry. With his matchplay pedigree he will be one of the players challenging for a place in the Ryder Cup in Ireland in 2006, if not sooner.

*Look out for some exclusive chipping and putting tips from Simon later this week.