NORTH Yorkshire golf star Simon Dyson was glad to be flying home to England today after his season ended in Spanish sighs.

Dyson finished the European Tour's swansong - the Volvo Masters in Spain's Andalucia region - in joint 39th place out of the 66 high-class starters.

The 24-year-old, who went into the star-studded tournament plagued by a mystery debilitating illness, was well in contention after the first three rounds at the exacting Club de Valderrama course.

A superb three-under 68 was followed by rounds of 74 and 76 to be up among the leading pack. But a final round 80, marred by a brace of bogey-filled holes, ruined prospects of Dyson gaining a creditable top ten finish.

As it was, his 39th place yielded him prize money of just over £15,000 to take his season's tournament earnings to almost £270,000.

Speaking to the Evening Press, Dyson reflected on the final round of his year with the assessment that it was 'brutal'.

"The wind got up on both the last two days and with the Valderrama course being tough enough without any wind then conditions at times were ridiculous," he said.

"I played beautifully on Saturday for a 76. But yesterday I was done by two bad holes - the ninth and the tenth. I triple-bogeyed the ninth and then double-bogeyed the next and that put paid to my chances."

However, given the fact that Dyson was feeling well-under par, his performance in the Volvo Masters was somewhat of a triumph.

Boosted by the news that blood tests have shown there is nothing physically wrong for him save for fatigue, Dyson declared: "I'm just glad to have got through it.

"I think it's just the wear and tear of the tour that has hit me and I am looking forward to a long rest. It's been a long, hard season. I started well and finished well - it was just the bit in the middle.

"Now I'm just going to put the clubs away, have a holiday and then re-assess what I will do with my coach Peter Cowen."

Dyson did confirm that he will miss out on playing on the Asian Tour during the winter in order to re-build his strength for the 2003 campaign, which starts in South Africa.

The Volvo Masters reached a dramatic climax with the title eventually shared by Ryder Cup team-mates Colin Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer.

Both men had finished on 281 prompting a play-off.

But after the first two holes they were still deadlocked and with the Valderrama course then enveloped in darkness Montgomerie and Langer agreed to share the trophy, each pocketing the princely sum of £277,775.

Updated: 12:42 Monday, November 11, 2002