THE difference is small, but subtle – the effect monumental in driving North Yorkshire golfing sensation Simon Dyson right among the game’s elite.

Three years ago Dyson had a year to remember when he captured a brace of European Tour titles – the Indonesian Open for his maiden crown, and then the KLM Open championship in Holland.

Now, after a brief week’s holiday, he resumes this year’s Tour of duty tomorrow in the Portuguese Masters celebrating another double conquest. After again landing the KLM Open title two months ago, last week the second leg of a 2009 double was no less than the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship seized in utterly captivating and emphatic fashion at St Andrews, the hallowed haven of the sport.

Now the doors to golf’s greatest prizes have been flung open.

He is number 44 in the world rankings, where the top 50 by the end of November will automatically enter 2010’s four Major championships – the US Masters at Augusta, the US Open, The Open and the USPGA Championship.

He heads the points table for selection to the Great Britain and European team for the Ryder Cup showdown against America at Celtic Manor next autumn.

He is eighth in the current European Tour Race to Dubai standings, culminating in the $7.5 million world championship at the end of November.

What was that about doors opening? They are almost clanging off their hinges.

And Dyson is determined to stride through with a swagger, not borne out of arrogance, but hewn from sheer belief in his own ability and merit to be in the top strata of the globe’s golfers, as well as being carved from utterly unyielding Yorkshire perseverance.

The delicate difference between the 2006 and 2009 doubles is a switch in approach by Dyson.

These past two months he has quit an excess of caffeine – far too many cups of coffee and bottles of Coca-Cola – and has taken to an even more strenuous regime in the gym, also cutting out hitting too many shots in practice.

But it is actually out on the course where the major modification has happened.

Keen observers of the game have noted a more steely resolve about Dyson and he concurred when this was put to him.

“I get to the tee now and where I would wonder what club to select and what distance and what approach, now while I think of those things yes, I also take the view that I want to dominate the hole,” said Dyson, who honed his game as a youngster at Malton & Norton GC before setting out on the arduous pro road as a rookie on the Asian Tour nine years ago.

“It’s the same when I’m putting. Before these past two months I would be thinking ‘oh, this is a difficult putt, I don’t want to slide too far past the hole’. Now it’s more about saying ‘I can hole this’.”

Besides the two tournament conquests, Dyson’s searing streak of ember-hot form has included a third-place finish and a tie for seventh. It’s a run that propelled him to the top of the Ryder Cup points charts for which his success as a member of the victorious GB & Ireland team in the Vivendi Trophy, has reinforced many a golf pundit’s belief that Dyson could thrive in the biennial battle between Europe and America.

Post-Dunhill triumph, Dyson declared the Ryder Cup was now an aspiration, a goal, an ambition. But he added a vein of realism, saying: “It’s the pinnacle for every professional golfer to play in the Ryder Cup.

“But I know that I will have to win at least another tournament, maybe even two, on the Tour to keep alive my chances of playing at Celtic Manor next autumn. That’s how tough competition for selection is.”

On his push to make all the Majors and principal tournaments next year, Dyson said his task was to ensure he stayed in the top 50 between now and the end of 2009’s programme.

He has already appeared several times in The Open and also in the USPGA Championship, where, in Southern Hills, Oklahoma, in 2007, he finished joint sixth and was the highest-placed Briton.

But it’s Augusta where he most wants to test his Major mettle.

“The Masters at Augusta is definitely where I want to play – that’s always been a big ambition.”

However, even that lofty goal could be topped should Dyson again revel in his ardour for golf’s spiritual domain, St Andrews.

The scene of his greatest triumph was secured with no less than two scintillating rounds of 66 on the Old Course to land the Alfred Dunhill Links title. It is also the course where Dyson had the honour of hitting the first tee shot at 6am on the first round of The Open when it was last held at the legendary Scottish venue in 2005.

Guess when The Open is next there? Next year, prompting Dyson to declare: “When I walked down the 18th holding a three-shot lead knowing I was likely to win the Dunhill, my playing partner Darren Clarke told me to “enjoy it as things don’t get better than this”.

“It was an amazing feeling. I suppose now it could only be topped if I was striding down the 18th on the final round knowing I could lift that famous Claret jug.”

Now there is a dream that is closer to reality thanks to the diligence, determination and dedication of the new Dyson.