North Yorkshire’s European Golf Tour ace Simon Dyson battling to find cure for neck injury

LORD of the swing Simon Dyson is to seek top medical aid to try to cure a problem threatening a searing start to the European Golf Tour.

The 31-year-old ace has been in a groove of top form since his double title-winning endeavours of 2005. Throughout this year’s European Tour Race to Dubai the North Yorkshire player has missed only one out of 12 tournament cuts.

And he is convinced that so good is his form that he will soon add to the Indonesian Open and KLM Dutch Championship titles he bagged in a glorious four-month spell four years ago.

His only tournament aberration was in the Spanish Open earlier this month when a recurring neck injury halted an uninterrupted run of reaching the business end of Tour events in Europe and Asia.

But the injury, which has flared on and off over several months, has now developed into a major problem and so the Malton and Norton Golf Club ace has taken a fortnight’s break from the tour to try to get it sorted.

His Manchester-based management company were today fixing up an appointment for an MRI scan of the affected area to pinpoint the particular problem.

Dyson has undergone various courses of physiotherapy while playing on the Tour and also back in England. While that treatment has eased the injury it has not eradicated it and Dyson feels now is the time to get to the root of the problem and return recovered and refreshed to the Tour in time for The 3 Irish Open in Drogheda in just over two weeks.

He said: “The injury with the neck has been affecting me on and off for a few months now.

“It can be fine for weeks and then one day all of a sudden it’ll flare up.

“The main problem then is that it hurts like hell when I get to the top of my backswing and that means I can’t commit myself to full shots.”

Unable to go right through on his swing, Dyson’s attempts to hit full shots, especially off the tee or in approaches to the green, are significantly hampered.

“The worst thing of all is that I am playing really well,” added Dyson, who is missing this week’s Spanish Open in Girona and the BMW Italian Open next week.

“My game is in the best fettle it has been for a while, so I do need to get this sorted once and for all.

“Another win on the tour is in me this year, I know it. That’s my aim – to get back to winning a title on the Tour.”

Another driving force for Dyson is remaining in the top 60 so as to qualify for the $10 million climax to the European Tour Race to Dubai in November. He is currently 44th with tournament earnings so far this year of just over £200,000 and is also ranked in the world’s top 120.

Lawrie boosted by Ballantine's 66

Peter Lawrie plans to use a final-day round of 66 at the Ballantine's Championship in Korea as a springboard to launch the defence of his Open de Espana title in Girona next week.

Lawrie travels to Spain without having won an event since his success in Seville last May, but he feels his six-under round to claim a top-10 finish at the Pinx Golf Club on Jeju Island may be precisely the boost he needs.

It was the 35-year-old's first top-10 finish on the European Tour this season, and the first time in the past four events that he managed to make the cut.

And the Dublin golfer, who is attatched to the Castleknock club, cannot help but draw positive parallels between his situation now and how he was playing going into the Spanish event last year.

'I struggled the last couple of weeks,' he admitted.

'I missed the cut last week, and I missed the two cuts in Spain and Portugal. But I'm delighted to be here for the weekend because I went up and down on Friday to make the cut on the mark, so it was a nice way to finish.

'The same happened last year to be honest. I missed the cut in Beijing, I finished tied for ninth in Shanghai and I won the next week. The game is coming around, so hopefully see what happens next week.'

Lawrie might have enjoyed an even better weekend in Korea had rain and strong winds not affected the second and third rounds of the co-sanctioned European and Asian Tour event.

On those two days Lawrie shot rounds of 75 and 76, having opened the tournament with a two-under 70.

But he refused to think of what might have been, saying: 'You can't do that. Never look back, so always look forward. So 66 around that golf course on a day like today is very good.

'It was one of those days. I just got used to the weather yesterday. Yesterday was very tough. Today was a little bit easier, and I holed a few nice putts.

'But I played lovely golf. I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens and gave myself a lot of chances.'

Now Lawrie focuses on successfully defending a title for the first time in his career, even though he will not be doing so at the Real Club de Golf in Seville where he won the Spanish Open last year.

'It will (be strange) because you're not back in Seville,' he said.

'It will be a bit strange but I've never been a defending champion before so it is going to be strange no matter what happens. I've been out here a long time, played Challenge Tour for a good few years. After a while, you think if you've been doing the lottery for 40 years, it's about time you're going to win something,' he said of his win last year.

'Thankfully I won last year, so it opens a few doors, you know, especially getting into tournaments and stuff like that. It does boost the confidence.'

Sports Briefs

The Detroit Lions will hold the team's annual NFL draft day party today at Ford Field from 3 to approximately 8 p.m. Fans will have the opportunity to watch the draft, which begins at 4 p.m. (TSN, ESPN, Football Network) on Ford Field's large video boards and enjoy other festivities scheduled for draft day. Admission to the Draft Day Party is free to the public, and no ticket is required. Windsor's Tang Bacheyie, a defensive back with the University of Kansas, is eligible for the draft, which continues Sunday with rounds three through seven.

Lehman solid

Tom Lehman's debut on the Champions Tour got off to a promising start, with some help from teammate Bernhard Langer. They were tied for the lead at 11-under with Fuzzy Zoeller and John Jacobs after Friday's first round of the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in Savannah, Ga. Both teams shot a combined 61 in the better-ball event and led by a stroke at The Club at Savannah Harbor, an island course in the middle of the Savannah River.

Ochoa in front

Defending champion Lorena Ochoa shot her second straight bogey-free eight-under 65 Friday to take a three-stroke lead over Suzann Pettersen in the LPGA Tour's Corona Championship in Morelia, Mexico. Ochoa, the top-ranked Mexican star who also won the 2006 tournament at Tres Marias, eagled the par-5 eighth hole and had six birdies. Fifth-ranked Pettersen shot a 64. Alena Sharp of Hamilton sits nine shots back after a second-round 68, while Lorie Kane of Charlottetown shot a 74 for a two-day four-over 150 and missed the cut.

Getty wins 12th straight

Leamington's Alyssa Getty set two tour records on the Plantation Junior Golf Tour. Firing rounds of 74-71 at an event in Ohio, Getty won her 12th event in a row and also earned weekend medalist honours for a fourth straight week. Officials from the tour informed the family that both accomplisments set tour records with the chance for more at the season's finale at Michigan State next Saturday.

Woods tees up

Tiger Woods is satisfied with his early season form and will play in the next two events on the PGA Tour, the world No. 1 said Friday. Woods has triumphed once and posted two other top-10 finishes in his three strokeplay appearances this year and is eager to compete at next week's Quail Hollow Championship in North Carolina and the Players Championship that follows.

Weir fails to qualify

Jerry Kelly moved into position for his first PGA Tour victory since his breakthrough 2002 season, shooting a six-under 66 Friday for a one-stroke lead in the Zurich Classic in Avondale, La. Opening-round 76s by both Mike Weir of Bright's Grove, Ont., and Calgary's Stephen Ames proved to be their demise as they failed to make the one-under cutoff.

Lyon held goalless

Olympique Lyon's hopes of clinching an eighth consecutive Ligue 1 title suffered another blow when they were held to a goalless draw at home to Paris St Germain Friday. Lyon remains third in the standings on 61 points with five games left, three points adrift of leaders Olympique Marseille, who travel to Lille Sunday.

Davydenko to face Nadal

Third-seeded Nikolay Davydenko rallied for a 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-2 victory over Radek Stepanek Friday to reach a Barcelona Open semifinal against Rafael Nadal. David Ferrer and Fernando Gonzalez of Chile will meet in the other semifinal.

Terry awarded

Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Terry was awarded the NBA sixth man award Friday for being the league's top reserve. While starting only 11 of his 74 games in the regular season, Terry averaged 19.6 points and 3.4 assists a game.

Dumbest rule in golf

Poor Padraig Harrington. In one of the world's most important golf tournaments, The Masters, he lost a stroke Friday because the wind blew his ball.

The United States Golf Association Rules of Golf are clear. If a player addresses a ball (though The Three Stooges would have you believe that means a player says "Hello, ball," it actually refers to a player's club being grounded behind the ball) and said ball moves because a gust of wind blows it, the golfer is penalized one stroke.

The rule is absurd. No player can predict when the wind will appear with such force. Just let the golfer play the ball from the new spot without penalty.

Unfortunately for Harrington, the rule is intact. And his chances of winning may be gone with the wind

Asian golf stars believe their time has come

Asia’s long search for its first major champion is a matter of being “a few putts away,” say the region’s Masters hopefuls.

Asian Tour stars Jeev Milkha Singh of India, Lin Wen-tang of Taiwan and Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng are competing in the year’s opening major at Augusta National and they believe the region’s strength is finally showing.

Korean duo K.J. Choi and Yang Yong-eun, both graduates of the Asian Tour and winners on the U.S. PGA Tour, are also in the Masters, with Choi looking to improve on his third-place finish here in 2004.

“Asian golfers have come good in recent years because of the Asian Tour,” said Lin, the first player from Taiwan to qualify for the Masters in 20 years. “The three of us qualified for the Masters on merit which shows that we have become better.”

The man from Taipei does not need to look very far for inspiration to achieve his major dream.

Countrymen Lu Liang-huan and T.C. Chen came close at the British Open and U.S. Open in 1971 and 1985, respectively, each finishing runner-up. Lin’s wife has told him to capitalise on his maiden major appearance.

“My wife said that I’ve got an exciting opportunity to write golf history for Chinese Taipei,” said Lin, who finished second on the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit last season.

Singh, Asia’s No. 1 in 2008, was delighted to see the growing number of Asian Tour players in the elite field. Apart from his success in Asia, Singh is also making his name abroad with a career-first top-10 in a major at last year’s U.S. PGA Championship and a fourth place outing at the recent World Golf Championship event in Doral, Florida.

“I think it’s fantastic. Golf is a global sport and it’s good to see so many Asians qualifying for the Masters,” said Singh, who is making his third Masters appearance.

Smooth-swinging Prayad knows that ultimately, Asia’s progress in world golf will be judged by their results at the majors. “The level of play amongst Asian players has certainly risen. But we have to take another big step up and keep raising our standard,” he said.

Asian Tour Executive Chairman Kyi Hla Han also believes that Asian players are capable of challenging for major titles.

“K.J. showed that he could contend at the Masters in 2004 and played well at the British Open last year,” he said. AFP


Korea’s K.J. Choi hits a shot during a practice round prior to the 2009 Masters Tournament in Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, U.S., on Tuesday.