Modest start for Simon Dyson in Volvo Champions tournament (From York Press)

Modest start for Simon Dyson in Volvo Champions tournament

11:50am Friday 20th January 2012 in Golf By Tony Kelly, Deputy sports editor

YORK golf ace Simon Dyson made a modest start to his first tournament round of the new year.

The world number 28 finished three-quarters of the way down the field of the Volvo Champions tournament, an event purely for last year’s winners of European Tour events and for those who have more than ten Tour titles to their name.

Dyson, who qualified by virtue of landing both the Irish Open and the KLM Dutch Open crowns last summer, posted a two-over-par 75 at The Links course in Fancourt in South Africa.

The Malton & Norton Golf Club star started and finished poorly. He opened up with a bogey on the par-fourth first, a fate he repeated on the fifth. Then came a fight-back with successive birdies carded on the sixth and seventh holes to bring him back level.

Dyson though was unable to stay in that shot-collecting groove. A brief fall into arrears on the par-four 12th was followed by a birdie on the par-five 13th.

But just as calm appeared to have been restored, Dyson suffered a double blow of bogeys on the 16th and 18th holes to leave him entering today’s second round no fewer than 11 shots shy of leader Nicolas Colsaerts.

There is no half-way cut in the Volvo Champions event.