MALTON and Norton golfer Simon Dyson played just 12 holes at the Shenzhen International in China last weekend due to fresh problems with his wrist, writes Ian Appleyard.

Dyson, who has struggled on the European Tour for two years after under-going surgery, was 11 over par and near the bottom of the leaderboard when he took the decision to quit.

He had hit bogeys on three of the first six holes and suffered the embarrassment of a quintuple bogey on the par five ninth.

Although he made par on the next two holes, he then hit a five on the par three twelfth and duly retired from the competition.

Dyson, 39, now has a fortnight to recover before his next scheduled tournament, the Open de Portugal at Morgado Golf Resort, on May 11.

"I wasn't playing very well last weekend and I hit a couple of shots in bunkers that jarred my wrist," Dyson said. "There was no point just carrying on for the sake of it and doing more damage.

"I have got a couple of weeks off now - which is probably a blessing - and I want to get back to basics and see how it goes."

It is now six years since York-born Dyson, a professional at Malton and Norton Golf Club, won the last of his six European Tour events.

Between 2006-2011, he won the KLM Open three times, the Irish Open, the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, and the Indonesia Open. He was ranked among the top 50 players in the world and had climbed to number eight in the European Tour rankings. He is currently ranked 1436 in the world.