SIMON DYSON’S surge to top 50 world golf status has been powered by a wife-inspired change to his diet.

After six weeks of title-winning, championship-challenging, cash-amassing form, the York golf ace now has his sights set fore-square on the USPGA Championship – the last major of the season – which starts tomorrow.

And Dyson has his own secret weapon, prompted by his wife, Lyndsey, to thank for underpinning an upswing in form ahead of a tournament in which he has excelled with sixth and 12th-place finishes in two of the last three years.

More than two months ago Dyson was so troubled by a back injury that it forced him to miss the cut in the BMW Open in Munich.

At one stage it was feared his season might have to come to a premature end just as the coveted championships were looming. A visit to one of the country’s most eminent spinal specialists and an MRI scan ruled out long-term damage as a course of physiotherapy and a cortisone injection got him back on track.

But occasionally the back injury flared up until Dyson’s astute spouse suggested a visit to a woman near their home in Manchester.

Said Dyson: “Lyndsey had been having trouble with her shoulder when she saw this woman – I’m not naming her as she is my secret – who came up with a change to Lyndsey’s diet. Soon after, her shoulder was okay. When I was troubled with my back again Lyndsey said ‘why not go and see this woman’, so I did.”

She proposed a change to the world number 49’s diet, supplemented by a vitamin drink. As the injury improved – “I’ve had no trouble with the back since” – Dyson’s form headed skywards.

He finished third behind world number one and two, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, in the PGA Championship at Wentworth and was tied for 25th in the Scottish Open, which was curtailed to three rounds by atrocious weather.

Then Dyson celebrated a reserve call-up to The Open by claiming a glorious ninth-placed finish in the 140th championship at Royal St George’s as the best-placed Englishman before then winning his fifth European Tour crown when he captured the Irish Open in Killarney last month.

That earned him a place in the world’s top 50 at 48th spot and also a coveted slot in last week’s World Golf Championships’ Bridgestone Invitational tournament, in which he roared back from a joint last position after the first day to claim 33rd spot by the end of the four rounds.

Including the WGC tournament – ideal preparation for tomorrow’s final major of the campaign – Dyson accrued more than £400,000 in earnings.

And though his world ranking slipped a place to 49th, he insisted his form going into tomorrow’s USPGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Georgia, could not be better.

“Since changing my nutrition – I only drink water now and this supplement – I’m feeling more hydrated, stronger and leaner. It’s a bit like a detox and gets rid of all the fats and stuff stored in your body,” said Dyson.

“I’ve had no problems at all with my back and I’m hitting my shots as well as I’ve ever played.”

Dyson also revealed that when he and his wife took a week’s break between The Open and the Irish Open at their property in Spain he remained in the competitive groove.

Said Dyson: “For the first time on a break I still wanted to practice.

“Early in the evening I’d go out and hit a few balls to keep me in the right frame of form and it was a joy to do.”