Simon Dyson

NORTH Yorkshire golf star Simon Dyson believes long-time friend Luke Donald could be the man to demolish Britain and Europe's 30 tournaments of hurt.

Donald, the world number nine, has been tipped by Dyson to be one of the likely European lads for honours in the 136th Open Championship, which drives off at Carnoustie tomorrow.

Coincidentally, the arduous Ayrshire course was the venue the last time a European won one of the four Majors, Scotsman Paul Lawrie hugging the old Claret Jug after a dramatic play-off conquest over Frenchman Jean Van de Velde and American Justin Leonard.

Dyson, still waiting anxiously by the telephone to see if he will be called up as third reserve for a treasured place in The Open, declared his former Walker Cup team-mate Donald one of the favourites.

"Luke's got the perfect game for Carnoustie where you have got to play it straight and make sure you're in perfect position for approaches to the green," said Dyson. "And he's in a great run of form. He had a superb round on the last day of the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond last week."

Both Donald and Dyson have Open experience of Carnoustie - back at that famous 1999 championships.

Recalled Dyson: "We were both amateurs but Luke had qualified and I caddied for him for the first two days. It was awesome."

Besides Donald, Dyson reckons other potential winners include England's Justin Rose and Ryder Cup ace Paul Casey.

"Of course, Tiger Woods is the favourite, but this year it's a bit closer to call. Besides Donald, Rose and Casey, I can also see Ernie Els making a strong bid, especially as he is just sneaking into a vein of good form," added the 29-year-old Dyson.

Unfortunately for the Malton and Norton GC player his own form has waned as a frenzied opening seven months of the year have rebounded on him in the last five weeks.

Dyson has been wedged in an unparalleled trough, capped by a cheerless 81 in the second round of the European Open at the K Club in Ireland. Uncharacteristically, Dyson endured an abject inward nine in which he dropped no fewer than nine shots, among them a triple-bogey - the fourth in his last three tournaments.

Enough was enough, declared Dyson. Knowing his game was way off base, he contacted his coach, golfing guru Pete Cowen. Dyson journeyed to Scotland where Cowen was preparing several of his clients for the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, who themselves were using the popular tournament as a tune-up for The Open.

Said Dyson: "I've just not been happy with my game this past month or so. It's because I have been playing far too many tournaments. I've played 23 this year and travelled across Europe and the Far East, out to Australia and back again to the Middle East before returning to Europe."

Added the man, who rose to a highest 69 in the world rankings during 2006 when he broke his European Tour duck with the Indonesian Open followed by the KLM Championship in Holland: "Instead of spacing out my tournaments, I was playing something like four on the spin.

"All that meant was that I was not working hard enough on practice because all I was doing was resting between tournaments, so I was not putting the work in."

Under Cowen's tutelage Dyson was put through five hours of a new training regime, which Dyson followed up with similar stints on the practice area for the next two days ahead of the Scottish Open.

Again, he failed to make the cut, paying the penalty for a poor opening round of seven-over par. But in the second round Dyson showed welcome signs he was edging back to his customary consistent form.

"Revising how much I play is something I've got to address. I need to be concentrating more on quality rather than quantity," declared Dyson.

"So I am definitely going to have a long break and if I don't get into The Open then my next tournament will be the US PGA Championships in Tulsa next month."

While Dyson seeks to refresh his game, he will remain driven by his number one motivation, which he revealed to The Press was: "Winning."

He explained: "That's what it's all about. The feeling you get from winning is fantastic and I had that when I won those two titles last year.

"To win once was a dream, to go and win twice was even better. That's what I really want to keep on doing."

That will, in turn, assist Dyson into achieving another ambition in his roller-coaster year - breaking into the top echelon.

"I want to get into the world's top 50," he said.

"I would be really happy if I got among that group of players by the end of this year."

The Dyson dynasty

Simon Dyson, who loves watching most sports and remains a dab hand at both tennis and football, where he was once on York City's books, is one of a corps of sporting family aces.

Dad John, who is a now a bookmaker, was a talented footballer on the books of both Middlesbrough and Arsenal during the late 1950s before starring for North Yorkshire outfit Scarborough.

Uncle Terry was a winger who was a pivotal performer in the legendary 1961 Double-winning team of Tottenham Hotspur.

Brother Nick, who has caddied for Simon, is an excellent golfer, playing off a handicap of four.