England’s Simon Dyson has set his sights on becoming only the eighth foreign winner of the South African Open when he tees it up at the Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate from November 24-27.
Dyson heads to Serengeti on the back of one of his most successful seasons as a professional.
The Englishman is currently ninth on The European Tour’s Race to Dubai, with two wins and a further six top-ten finishes in 2011, and has climbed to number 31 in the world. His quest is to end the year on a high in South Africa as he pushes for a place in top 20 on the Official World Golf Ranking.
The last Englishman to win the South African Open was also the first foreigner, Tommy Horton in 1970.
Dyson faces a strong South African challenge, including defending champion Ernie Els, double South African Open champion Retief Goosen, and rising stars George Coetzee, Jaco van Zyl and Thomas Aiken.
Since turning professional in September 1999, Dyson’s career has enjoyed a steady rise, topping the Asian Tour Order of Merit in 2001 before capturing his maiden European Tour title in the Indonesia Open. Later that year he won the KLM Open as he broke into the world’s top 100 first time in his career.
In 2009, Dyson won the KLM Open again and also the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on his way to finishing eighth on The Race to Dubai.
This year Dyson won The Irish Open presented by Discover Ireland and added a third KLM Open title for his sixth win on the European Tour.
