It’s like the Masters – Dyson
“I grew up watching this tournament on TV and it’s like when I first played in the Masters in 2009. To see the holes you’ve always looked at on TV, it’s unbelievable just to stand there.
“I’ve always played really well in Hong Kong, which is this week, and I got invited to the Chevron World Challenge too, but the minute this invitation came through, there was no comparison. My flight was booked in 24 hours,” Dyson said.
While missing the cut in last week’s South African Open at the Serengeti Golf Estate was a blow to Dyson’s momentum, he is a form golfer, lying ninth on the European Tour’s Race to Dubai.
The eight-week spell he referred to was between the Open Championship in July and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at the beginning of October. In that time, Dyson finished tied for ninth in the Open and the Dunhill Links, won the Irish and KLM Opens, and finished in the top 20 at the European Masters and the Johnnie Walker Championship.
The 33-year-old adds character to the field as he is not scared to wear his heart on his sleeve and show his emotions. He is also in wonderful physical shape – having enlisted the help of a trainer and dietician – and extremely accurate with his irons.
He’s a top-class golfer who just needs a break or two to become a rare debutant winner of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.
“If I drive like I have the last few months, then hopefully I’ll have a good chance. From tee to green I’m good, and I’ve got my putting stroke back after a lot of work. I’m playing well, I’m just not scoring as well as I’m playing. But one week it might just click … ” Dyson warned.
Dyson blames a torrid time on the undulating Serengeti greens for last week’s missed cut.
“The way I played last week, I was very disappointed to miss the cut. I missed only four greens in 36 holes, but I’ve never seen greens like that anywhere else in the world. I’ve never had an eight-foot putt with a double break in it before. The putts just kept slipping past the hole,” the Englishman said.
Yorkshireman Dyson is in the same ISM camp as Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke, and manager Chubby Chandler is in no doubt as to his ability.
“I can see Simon finishing next year in the top 15. You get into that position because you’re winning the big tournaments.
“He knows now that he has earned the right to play in all of these great tournaments, and that knowledge makes such a difference. For instance, he would go to the Players’ Championship and think ‘I don’t belong out here’. Now he can go to the Players’ Championship thinking he not only deserves to be there but can have a big impact.
“That is because Simon is a prolific player and he relishes being in the hunt,” Chandler told the Yorkshire Post recently.
In his first appearance at Sun City, Dyson will certainly have all the desire in the world to make his mark on an event that has clearly made such an impression on him.