Simon Dyson was in good company last night after getting his Open off to a tentative start.

The York-based golfer was nestled in among names such as Luke Donald and Bernhard Langer on two over before his crack of dawn start on day two.

He will now have to make like the proverbial early bird to catch the cut for a second year in a row after a round that was a far cry from his opener this time last year where he went in as clubhouse leader having hit the first ball of the tournament.

A solid six straight pars set up the 28-year-old nicely before hitting the ground with a bogey at the par four seventh and another, four holes later.

The Malton and Norton Club man slipped further off the pace with a double bogey on the short par three 15th, but managed to shave two off his card with back to back fours on the last three to earn much needed birdies on the 16th and 18th.

Dyson finished the day in joint 108th just three off his current world ranking of 111th and will need to claw back several shots if he is to have a chance at matching or bettering last year's overall finish of 34th by the end of today's crucial second round.