ONE of his worst rounds of the year sent Simon Dyson tumbling out of the Spanish Open at the half-way stage.

The York-born ace, who had posted a modest one-over par 72 on an opening day when low scores were a feature on the Catalunya course, weighed in with a six-over par 78 yesterday.

That left him five shots short of the projected midway cut and 12 shots shy of the leader, compatriot Eddie Pepperell.

After an opening par, his round quickly deteriorated with three successive bogeys. Though he birdied the par-four seventh, two more dropped shots followed on eight and nine.

While the inward nine did not show as many clusters of black marks, Dyson regularly suffered bogeys with dropped shots on the 11th, 15th and 17th holes eased only slightly by a birdie on the 13th.

The dismal end to the Spanish Open was far from the ideal preparation for Dyson ahead of next week's BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, one of the European Tour's showpiece and most lucrative tournaments.