Simon Dyson seeking seventh heaven (From York Press)

Simon Dyson seeking seventh heaven

12:20pm Wednesday 18th July 2012 in Golf By Tony Kelly, Deputy sports editor

KING of swing Simon Dyson is suffering a seven cheer itch.

The winner of six European Golf Tour titles, York’s worthy woods and irons worker heads into the 140th Open Championship tomorrow craving to take his tally to seven.

Dyson conceded his 2012 has been a start-stop affair after the birth of he and his wife Lyndsey’s first child, Isabella Rose, and his enforced three-week absence caused by a potentially crippling pelvic injury.

Those two key events have forced the 34-year-old into a revision of targets which, at the outset of the year, were to strive for a place in the world’s top 15 and to make the Ryder Cup squad he agonisingly just missed out on two years ago when Great Britain and Europe toppled the USA at Celtic Manor.

Ahead of The Open at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s tomorrow, Dyson said: “What I am after now is a win, another win on the Tour, because who knows what that might lead to.

“I’ve not really set myself any other targets and so I’m not really thinking about anything else, but what I do want is another title.

“That’s the main aim for now. If I win another one then we can see what happens. What I do know is that if get another win on the tour then that lifts me right up there in the rankings.”

His enforced inactivity has led to the Malton & Norton Golf Club ace dipping from his best-ever world ranking position of 26 to his current status as 48th-highest ranked player in the world.

In itself that is no mean rating.

But the drive to regain his previous best and to improve on that continues to motivate the York-born player for whom tomorrow’s Open will be his ninth assault at the game’s oldest and most valued major.

“If I can have a good finish to the year, and I often improve in the second half of the season, then I can get back into the top 30 certainly,” said Dyson, buoyed by his display in last week’s Scottish Open.

He added: “I’ve been striking the ball really solidly, and in Scotland last week it was as good as I have hit it all year. The only thing wrong was on the last day when the putts just would not drop. I played beautifully but could not sink a putt.”

In the bid to remedy his final round blues at Castle Stuart, Dyson spent the bulk of Monday just working on his touch on the greens after journeying to his Manchester base from Inverness.

Today, he was starting what he hopes will be a full and profitable five-day stay on the Lancashire coast, where he would gladly embrace a post-play seven on his career scorecard.