LORD of the swing Simon Dyson is to seek top medical aid to try to cure a problem threatening a searing start to the European Golf Tour.

The 31-year-old ace has been in a groove of top form since his double title-winning endeavours of 2005. Throughout this year’s European Tour Race to Dubai the North Yorkshire player has missed only one out of 12 tournament cuts.

And he is convinced that so good is his form that he will soon add to the Indonesian Open and KLM Dutch Championship titles he bagged in a glorious four-month spell four years ago.

His only tournament aberration was in the Spanish Open earlier this month when a recurring neck injury halted an uninterrupted run of reaching the business end of Tour events in Europe and Asia.

But the injury, which has flared on and off over several months, has now developed into a major problem and so the Malton and Norton Golf Club ace has taken a fortnight’s break from the tour to try to get it sorted.

His Manchester-based management company were today fixing up an appointment for an MRI scan of the affected area to pinpoint the particular problem.

Dyson has undergone various courses of physiotherapy while playing on the Tour and also back in England. While that treatment has eased the injury it has not eradicated it and Dyson feels now is the time to get to the root of the problem and return recovered and refreshed to the Tour in time for The 3 Irish Open in Drogheda in just over two weeks.

He said: “The injury with the neck has been affecting me on and off for a few months now.

“It can be fine for weeks and then one day all of a sudden it’ll flare up.

“The main problem then is that it hurts like hell when I get to the top of my backswing and that means I can’t commit myself to full shots.”

Unable to go right through on his swing, Dyson’s attempts to hit full shots, especially off the tee or in approaches to the green, are significantly hampered.

“The worst thing of all is that I am playing really well,” added Dyson, who is missing this week’s Spanish Open in Girona and the BMW Italian Open next week.

“My game is in the best fettle it has been for a while, so I do need to get this sorted once and for all.

“Another win on the tour is in me this year, I know it. That’s my aim – to get back to winning a title on the Tour.”

Another driving force for Dyson is remaining in the top 60 so as to qualify for the $10 million climax to the European Tour Race to Dubai in November. He is currently 44th with tournament earnings so far this year of just over £200,000 and is also ranked in the world’s top 120.


Ticket ballot opens for 2010 Ryder Cup

The ticket ballot for next year’s Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor – the first to be staged in Wales – has opened.

A second tranche of tickets will be made available in April next year to accommodate fans unable to make an early commitment, but European captain Colin Montgomerie is encouraging supporters to enter the ballot now.

“I’ve already made my first official visit and you can sense the excitement with history in the making,” he said.