Injury nightmare almost at an end for Dyson

by Graham Otway

It is that time of year when many golfers on the European Tour are getting ready to wind down their seasons, stick the clubs in the garage, the passport in a desk draw and devote the festive period to their families.

However, after months of worry and frustration in Simon Dyson’s Cheshire household, there is a sense of eager anticipation that he could soon be back out on the course and rebuilding a career that might have been cut off by injury earlier in the summer.

While most players were cursing the miserable wet and windy weather that blighted the Irish Open at Royal County Down in May, Dyson cut an unhappy-looking figure because of far more serious concerns.

After shooting a nine-over-par 80 in the first round, he was forced to withdraw from the tournament, fearing that he had a badly damaged tendon in his left wrist – one of the key joints in the body that needs to be in full working order for a golfer to commit to a powerful swing.

For two months Dyson had tried to play his way through the injury, which first flared in March while he was playing in a friendly fourball at the Worsley Club near Manchester with footballers Paul Scholes and Phil Neville, along with an old friend, Bill Clynes.

“I was hitting a three-wood second shot into the green at a par-five,” he recalled. “And it seemed to snap. I knew straight away that it could be serious and I couldn’t continue with the round. But I did hope that with rest, it would settle down.”

But after returning to action in May at the Spanish Open, he was forced to retire and, after Royal County Down, Dyson had little choice other than surgery.

“I had an MRI scan which did not show that the tendon had snapped, but when the surgeon operated he discovered it was the subsheath, which surrounds the tendon that had been damaged.

“It had snapped and curled up between the tendon and the wrist bone, and that was why I was in so much pain. But at least he was able to repair it,” said Dyson.

But, when seven weeks later the cast was removed from Dyson’s wrist, the sight that greeted the 37-year-old six-time European Tour winner renewed his fears that his golfing future could be in jeopardy.

“I couldn’t believe what happened to the muscles in my forearm; it was like they had withered down to nothing,” he said

“And when I came out of the cast, it was almost like I had to teach my hand how to do everything again. I could only wiggle my fingers and I couldn’t hold on to anything, however small, let alone a golf club.”

And taking a family holiday to the Antalya Golf Club owned by his sponsors, Elegant Golf Resorts, only added to his frustration.

“It’s a wonderful place, and just outside the window was a great golf course. But I just couldn’t play it.”

Once he had been told the tendon subsheath had healed, with the help of small screws anchoring it to his bone, Dyson began to gradually embark on a series of rehabilitation excercises. By the early autumn he was beginning to hit balls on the range and play golf with friends.

In his eagerness to get back out on Tour he worked too hard, some pain returned, and in October he was forced to take another rest. But since then he has changed his work schedule and after gradually building up his strength, he hopes to be back in action soon after the 2016 Race to Dubai season gets underway next month.

“I have now put a weight on the end of the club I chip with to help rebuild the muscles, and that means that when I am out practising, I just hit around 30 or 40 balls rather than 100 – so there is less strain being put on the wrist.”

Dyson is still not quite sure when he will be able to return to tournament action, but having missed most of the current Race to Dubai because of the injury, he has been granted a European Tour medical exemption after failing to make enough money to keep his card for next season.

“That’s the next category after the top 110 players in the money list who keep their cards,” he said. “I have spoken to my manager, Chubby Chandler, and he reckons I should be able to get into plenty of tournaments once the new season starts. There may be one of two events, like in Malaysia, where I can’t get into the field, but there’s not likely to be a lot.

“Now it’s just a question of building up my strength and getting ready to play again. I have been given a second chance, and I can’t wait to take it.”

*This article was originally published in TGP on 11 November

Tagged European Tour, Simon Dyson