YORK’S Simon Dyson began a task in earnest today.

That’s when the two-day tournament for the professionals began in the Mission Hills Celebrity pro-am tournament staged in China.

Dyson, now 107th in the world rankings, is among 24 leading players in the field for one of the sport’s leading invitational pro-am events, which includes sportsmen and Hollywood actors.

There are two rounds starting today in the event for the pros, which carries a prize fund topping $1 million at the Mission Hills Haikou course on the tropical island of Hainan.

Among the opponents for Dyson are major winners Darren Clarke, John Daly, Justin Rose, Greg Norman and Ian Woosnam, while contemporaries of Dyson number last month’s victorious Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley and Ian Poulter, who played in the European team that toppled the USA at Gleneagles.