When Dyson triumphed at St Andrews, none other than the new Open
champion, Darren Clarke, had a quiet word in his ear before he putted
out at the 18th. He told him to slow down, although this was less
because he was doing everything at the double than because he wanted him
to savour the moment. "Take your time," said Clarke, "because this is
St Andrews and it doesn't get any better than this."
Dyson followed that advice and the lasting thrill of succeeding at the
so-called Home of Golf helped him weather the 21 winless months, or 50
winless tournaments, before he picked up what was his fifth tour victory
yesterday.
There were signs at the Open that Dyson was coming good. Though,
originally, he was no better placed than fifth reserve for Royal St
George's, he ended up in the top ten. In fact, he was the next best
performer from the UK after Clarke.
The Killarney week was expected to be all about Ireland's four major
champions, Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and
Clarke. As things turned out, Harrington and Clarke missed the cut
while McDowell finished 25th and McIlroy 34th.
Green looked as if he would emerge the winner when he matched Dyson's
birdie at the 16th to mount the 17th tee with a one shot lead. Only
then, Dyson, who was playing in the group ahead, birdied the
penultimate hole for both men to be lying at 15 under.
Dyson then missed the nine-footer at the last which would have given him
three birdies in a row - and waited to see how Green would finish.
The New Zealander caught the green in two and had a 30-footer to take
the trophy. Instead, he had three putts to lose out to a somewhat
startled Dyson.
"You don't want to see someone losing like that," said Dyson. "It would
have been much better if I'd made a birdie to win outright."
Apart from qualifying for the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in
Shanghai in November, Dyson made it into the field for this week's WGC
event in the States. Whereas a slow boat would get him to China on time,
he had little leeway in the matter of getting to Akron and was on the
phone to his travel agent immediately after the prize-giving.
Typically, he cannot wait to get there.
"It's amazing the golf I've played this week," said this winner of
250,000 Euros. "It's a shame I can't bottle it because it's probably the
best I've ever played."
He paid tribute to Pete Cowen, his coach, who had helped him to peak at
the Open. "We worked on lots of good things and I brought them with me
here." His caddie, Guy Tilston, picked out his iron-play. It was, quite
simply, the finest he had seen from anyone.
Intriguingly, Englishmen have always won at Killarney. Nick Faldo came
out on top in 1991 and 1992, with Ross Fisher the champion in 2010. |
