Simon Dyson battles for survival in Portugal Masters (From Gazette & Herald)

Simon Dyson battles for survival in Portugal Masters

10:54am Friday 12th October 2012 in Sport

A SUPERB start was wasted by York’s Simon Dyson as the club class ace tackled the first round of the Portugal Masters.

Dyson finished tied for 78th place after the opening round in Vilamoura yesterday when he carded a one-over par 72 to leave him with an exacting test to beat the midway cut.

Returning to action after missing the final day at the Alfred Dunhill Links in Scotland last week, the 34-year-old was quickly into his stride on the Oceanico Victoria course. He birdied both the fourth and fifth holes, the latter the 579-yard par five to suggest that his form was back to its most fluent.

But the world number 53, whose past month has been blighted by a torn ligament in his wrist, then suffered a double stutter.

He dropped shots on the seventh and eighth holes before deeper bogey trouble followed on a brace of par-threes, the 13th and 16th.

Dyson recovered slightly with his third birdie of the day on the par-four 17th. But that still meant he was seven shots adrift of the first round’s joint leaders – England’s Ross Fisher and Stephen Gallacher of Scotland.