NORTH Yorkshire golf ace Simon Dyson is steeling himself for a Middle East tournament as the world's two leading players consider pulling out because of the threat of war on Iraq.

Both America's Tiger Woods, the world number one, and Ernie Els, the South African pushing Woods for the prime ranking, are pondering whether to make the trip to Dubai for next week's Dubai Desert Classic.

But the 24-year-old Dyson, who returned to form with a top-ten finish in Malaysia last week, is already in Dubai on holiday ahead of the four-day tournament which starts next Thursday. He told the Evening Press: "I'm not that worried about being here. Dubai is one of the safest places around and I'm looking forward to the tournament."

Ironically, Els is the holder of the Dubai title. After suffering a shock loss in the World Matchplay Accentre championships in America, he was asked whether he would defend his crown. He said: "I would love to go - it's one of my favourite events. But my only scare is if I get there and it (war with Iraq) kicks off. How do you get out?

"We've spoken to the people over there and they said come, but at the end of last week there was some (British) government advice about not going to Qatar. What's the big difference between Qatar and Dubai?"

Els is to have further talks before making his mind up, while Woods also remains a doubtful starter, explaining that his decision will come "in the next couple of days".

Dyson, who admitted he would love to see Woods and Els playing in the Dubai Classic, added that he had been made aware of doubts whether the following week's Qatar Masters would yet go ahead.

Ken Schofield, executive director of the European Golf Tour, is to visit Doha next week, presumably to determine whether the Qatar event on March 13-16 goes ahead. With military action imminent, troops have already assembled in Qatar.

Malton and Norton Golf Club ace Dyson though was determined to succeed in Dubai now that he was back in fine fettle after at last shaking off the doldrums that dogged him since the turn of the new year.

Four consecutive tournament cuts were missed by Dyson, representing his worst ever start to the European Tour. But an unscheduled trek to the Far East, where two years earlier he ended his rookie campaign as the Asia Tour's player of the year, initiated a long-awaited recovery.

Dyson discarded his earlier demons to claim a coveted top-ten finish in the Carlsberg Malaysian Open, where he shot a quartet of below-par rounds, opening with a sensational six-under-par 65.

That set the tone for him to follow up with rounds of 70 68 and 68 to yield joint ninth place, a hefty cheque worth more than £16,000 and, more importantly, a massive boost to his morale.

Dyson said: "I only had four bogies in the entire tournament, something which I hadn't done before for quite a while.

"Originally I hadn't planned to compete in Malaysia, but after my start to the season I wondered 'what's going on?'. So that's why I went out there to try to get a bit of confidence back."

His ultimate driving ambition this year is to win a tournament, declaring: "It would be great to do that, but the main thing is to get a lot more top-ten finishes and make sure I qualify for the Volvo Masters at Valderrama next October."

Updated: 11:58 Thursday, February 27, 2003