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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 17, 2011

Simon Dyson

SANDWICH, ENGLAND

SIMON DYSON: God, that was smelly towards the end there, wasn't it?

Q. How was it?
SIMON DYSON: Good. I played how I've done for the first three days, really. Missed a couple of putts today, but they were very hard to read. You'd have one putt and you'd get a gust of wind, and that was it, it was good, and then you'd hit another putt the same and you wouldn't get the gust of wind you thought you were going to get and you'd miss it the other side. I'm very happy with level par.

Q. Talk about the eagle you had.
SIMON DYSON: I didn't hit a very good drive to be honest. The wind was absolutely pumping at that point and I couldn't get it airborne, and I blocked it right and I had a decent lie and went with 5-wood. Just tried to run one through and got a good bounce. It was heading for the left trap, just bounced right of it and rolled up to about eight feet and managed to roll the putt in, which was a big bonus, because to be fair, like the first six holes I hadn't really missed a shot and I was 2-over. It was a bit disappointing. I bogeyed both par-3s and hit two beautiful shots into them, just a bit more wind on 3, took it sideways, and then I just hit it through the wind on 6 and went over the back.
I thought I deserved level par after 7, to be honest, and then I got a bit of a bonus on 8, holed that long putt, hit a lovely shot in there again, 4-iron. Good shot in and managed to roll the putt in, and then just let my -- let it slip a little bit after that. Didn't hit a very good drive at the next, on 9, and then got a flier. I had a pretty easy chip but dropped it in the drop zone, couldn't have dropped it in a worse lie if I tried, tried to lob it out and half thinned it about 30-foot through.
Middle of the fairway on 10 and just got a gust of wind, hit a nice shot down the right, got a big gust, and we both came up well short, and I made a good 5 in the end. So not too disappointed.

Q. As we speak you're tied for 10th, by far the leading Englishman on the leaderboard. When you came out last week all the hype was about Westwood and Donald. Would you have thought you'd finish top Englishman?
SIMON DYSON: Well, if you do, you know you've played well, it's as simple as that. The way I played last week at Castle Stuart, I knew I was coming in here with a nice bit of form, but obviously Luke had won the tournament, so he's coming in with a lot better form. But I knew I was playing well, and you can't really think about them, you've just got to concentrate on your own game, especially in weather like that. I've had four of the hardest days of golf I think I've ever had, and to come out at 2-over, I'm really pleased with that.

Q. And if you do stay up near 10th, quite a decent payday, as well?
SIMON DYSON: Yeah, absolutely, but it's more the get back in next year, my automatic berth next year. That's the huge one for me. It saves having to go to Sunningdale or the regional qualifier. I'd be very disappointed if it didn't finish in the Top 10 now. But you never know.

Q. On 7 for the second shot you pulled out your 5-wood. Did you think now is the time for me to be aggressive?
SIMON DYSON: Not really because you can't be aggressive with where the pin is. You're going in with 5-wood out of the rough. I literally said to my caddie, let me just bomb it down the left and if the wind takes it, it's good, and if it takes it too much, it's going to be in the front right trap, which I didn't think was that hard a bunker shot, but as it worked out Raphael went in there and it was a very tough bunker shot. But the wind got it and it got a nice bounce, and the rest is history.

Q. Would you like to be known as sort of among the English golf superstars? You're not as well known.
SIMON DYSON: I am in my household (laughter).
Absolutely, that's where you always want to be. You've had G-Mac win, Rory win, now it's spurred Darren on. You've got Westwood world No. 1, then you have Lee world No. 1, Poulter is in the Top 10, people like that can do nothing but spur you on and try to get to where they are.

Q. Does it need one English winner to open the floodgates?
SIMON DYSON: I don't know. You've had two English world No. 1s. It's not about second best to be fair, is it? But if you asked them both I'm sure they'd both say they wished they were major winners instead of world No. 1.

Q. What does this do for your confidence?
SIMON DYSON: Yeah, I've always been a pretty confident guy. I've been working on some really good things this week. Instead of having a relaxing holiday, I think I'll be practising quite a bit and hopefully have a good middle to end part of the season.

Q. Where would you have been this week?
SIMON DYSON: We were going to go down to Spain, me and my wife. We've got a place down in Banus down there, and we were going to go down there for four days, but as it happens I've just taken Sweden off next week and we just put the flights back a week. I've got a place down there, so I've got a couple of sets of clubs down there, and they're exactly the same as what I use now. If I hadn't have got in the Open, I don't know whether I would have practiced this week. But now I've found something that works, I'll hopefully try and keep it going.

Q. When did you find out you were in?
SIMON DYSON: It was the -- was it the Thursday or the Friday? It was Thursday, wasn't it? Yeah, Thursday afternoon, yeah.

Q. Did you breathe a sigh of relief on 18? Was that satisfaction?
SIMON DYSON: Yeah, very much so, very much so. I hit a lovely drive, just the wind didn't bring it back like I thought it would, and then it finished in the rough and it came out terrible. But I managed to get a drop in the drop zone, and again, took a terrible drop again. I just had to become positive with it and just lobbed it on and managed to hole a nice putt.

Q. So you were the worst dropper at the Open?
SIMON DYSON: Worst dropper, without a doubt. I'll have to practice that. (Laughter.)

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