Dyson has the belief to make it into elite company

In the final part of our series looking at a trio of the region’s top golfers, Simon Dyson talks to Nick Westby about the reasons behind his stellar form in the second half of the season.

If Simon Dyson has pretensions of joining the elite then there will be no better test of his credentials than this week’s Dubai World Championship.

The best field in European golf – which, owing to the Tour’s dominance of recent majors and the world rankings, effectively means the best field in world golf – has assembled to chase a prize fund of 7.5m euros (£6.43m).

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All eyes will be on world No 2 Rory McIlroy’s pursuit of world No 1 Luke Donald at the top of the money list, the duo teeing off together in a mouth-watering final pairing this morning.

But in a testament to how far Dyson has come in the last six months, and how close he now is to the game’s top bracket, he tees off just four pairings in front, alongside Open champion Darren Clarke.

The 33-year-old Dyson’s victories in Ireland and Holland in the summer, on top of a ninth-place finish at the Open, have taken the Yorkshireman from the middle of the pack to the very fringes of the elite.

Opportunities like this week in Dubai, the four majors next year, the four World Golf Championships and the Players’ Championship will determine whether he has the necessary qualities to take the final step.

He certainly has the determination, and the confidence.

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“I stood on the first tee at the Open in July thinking I have prepared as well as I can for this tournament, and for me or any golfer, that is a great position to be in,” he says.

“Ever since the Open I have been able to stand on the first tee every Thursday and think that.

“I’ve never had that before. It’s great mentally to be able to have that mindset.

“The Open was massive for me. For the first time in 11 years, I felt I could really compete.

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“That was the first time I thought that with a bit of luck I could have been in there.

“It really made me think that maybe I am a bit better than I thought I was.”

That self-belief should stand him in good stead over the coming months.

For as well as the individual accolades he has every chance of grasping, there is also the small matter of a debut in the Ryder Cup at Medinah on offer next September.

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Dyson’s victory at the Dutch Open put him straight into contention in the race for qualification.

His manager, Chubby Chandler, however, told the Yorkshire Post recently that a Ryder Cup debut for the Malton man would take care of itself if he met the targets of climbing into the top 15 in the rankings next year.

Besides, the ‘R’ word is banned around the Dyson camp.

“The worst thing you can do is think about the Ryder Cup,” says the player currently ranked 32nd in the world.

“I’ve seen so many players talk too much about the Ryder Cup only to see it greatly affect their game.

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“If I concentrate on my golf, I have every chance of making it.

“But, at this stage, I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself.

“If I win two tournaments next year, I’ll have a good chance of getting in the team.

“Or, alternatively, a top three at say a World Golf Championship or a major is like a win on a regular tour event because of the massive ranking points, and that should stand me in good stead.”

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A continuation of the form he showed in mid to late summer would ensure he has a seat on the plane to Medinah.

What promped such a surge up the rankings in the second half of the season – a sequence he describes as ‘unbelievable’ – is the work he has done in the gym with his now full-time trainer James Thompson.

Dyson plucked Thompson from a gym at a Marriott Hotel in Manchester at the start of the summer and has not looked back since.

“I’ve enjoyed getting my head down with the training and I’m seeing the benefits,” he says.

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“James really pushes me, which is good, and I’m taking him to 18 tournaments next season. I’m really excited about that.

“Plus we’ll have a boot camp on another couple of occasions when he will really put me through my paces.

“I saw the benefit of it in Singapore recently. That is notoriously a tough tournament because of the heat and because it’s such a long course.

“Only the long hitters tend to win that tournament but I felt strong through the whole week.

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“In the past, I’d done a bit of fitness and gym work but I never really pushed myself when I was on my own.

“An hour with James is like three hours on your own, which is what you want.

“I’ve always wanted to take it to another level and I’ve managed to do that now.”

Dyson’s primary aim over the next four days is to consolidate his standing in the top 10 of the money list.

He is ninth with 1,444,558 euros (£1,238,944) to his name.

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Victory this week against the best in the world carries a purse of 922,645 euros (£791,380) and could see him finish fourth, a place occupied by Masters champion and his International Sports Management stablemate Charl Schwartzel.

Heady heights indeed.

Dyson’s 2012 campaign begins in South Africa with the WGC event at Fancourt in January his next big assignment.

Before that, it is Christmas, and a chance to sit back and look back with pride on a stellar year.

“I’ve not really had time to sit down and reflect on it all yet, I’ve been practicing and travelling,” he says.

“I only had one night out to celebrate.”

The mark of the men he wants to join is that they follow up success, year on year.

The time has come for Dyson to prove he can do the same.