Arizona shoot-out for Simon Dyson (From Gazette & Herald)

Arizona shoot-out for Simon Dyson

11:26am Wednesday 22nd February 2012 in Sport

CLUB class Simon Dyson was primed for a shoot-out in Arizona in the drive to gun his way back up the world rankings.

After a week’s break, Dyson was back on European Tour action today.

He was in the field of the world’s top 64 players vying for a share of an $8½ million prize fund in the opening World Golf Championship event in America.

The first opponent for world number 28 Dyson – he dropped a place after missing last week’s Avantha Masters championship in New Delhi – was Australia’s rising talent, John Senden, in the opening round of the WGC Accenture match-play championship.

The first match-play event of the year and a format at which Dyson usually excels, it spans a full five days, culminating in Sunday’s final over 36 holes at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at the Dove Mountain resort in Arizona.

Should the York-born star advance past Senden, then his next opponent will be either another Australian, Jason Day, or the latest of the Spain production line of talent, Rafael Cabrera-Bello, winner of last month’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

That was Dyson’s last Euro Tour appearance before last week’s week-long break with the Malton & Norton Golf Club ace only denied a top ten placing by his lone above-par round of the day on the final Sunday. The 34-year-old eventually finished tied for 33rd.

Elsewhere in Dyson’s half of the draw lies fellow Brit Ian Poulter, who won the tournament two years ago, current world number two Rory McIlroy, and the man just behind him in the global rankings, Worksop’s world number three Lee Westwood.