It was so hot, remembers Simon Dyson, the car park was melting.
“The last round was one of the hottest days on record for a major tournament. It was absolutely boiling. I’d been working with Pete [Cowen] trying to get my body moving a bit better and I did this drill with a tennis ball. As I swing, I throw it against the floor, it hits a wall and it comes back to me. It got me moving properly.
“That was my warm-up for 20 minutes before I teed off. I didn’t hit a ball – the only time in my career I did that!”
In a career that brought six European Tour titles, including the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and a top 10 at The Open at Royal St George’s, it’s a scorching six-under 64 – in every sense of the word – in the final round of the 2007 PGA Championship at Southern Hills that Dyson remembers as one of his finest moments.
Only Tiger Woods went lower that week, firing 63 in the second round en route to victory, but the Yorkshireman’s efforts propelled him up the leaderboard when it mattered most.
A tie for sixth was his best finish in a major and the confidence he took from his performance would help him scale the world’s top 30.
NCG sat down with Dyson to look back at that round and that memorable week…
You had four birdies in the first six holes, went out in 31, you birdied 11, 13 and 18 as well. What can you remember about that round now?
I hit a lovely 7-iron into the last, just below the hole, and I remember hitting the putt thinking, ‘That’s come off quick.’ My first reaction was, ‘Slow down!’ Then it started tracking and obviously it went in. It was a really nice way to finish a good week – because I played lovely. When I walked off the course, I think I was tied-third.
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That must have been quite a moment on the last as it’s regarded as one of the harder holes in championship golf…
One day I hit 4-iron in there off a good drive! That last day, I just let it happen. I swung so freely. I’d been doing this drill that made hitting the ball quite hard. I hovered the club to improve my takeaway. So I was practising that and changing where I did it. And I started hitting it brilliantly on the Wednesday.
So the first three rounds I did that before I hit a shot and then the last day – I don’t know whether it was because it was so hot I didn’t hit any balls on the range – but I thought, ‘I’m just going to go back to normal. Put the club behind the ball and hit the shot.’ The swing never felt as easy.
In golf, a lot of people don’t make their practice harder than playing whereas for footballers, rugby players, tennis players, their training is intense.
Golfers just seem to practice what they are good at. I was practising something that was really hard, but it made the game easier and, when I just let it happen on the Sunday, it’s probably the easiest the game has felt for me.
Would you have ever done that again – a warm up where you didn’t hit any balls?
Never. I did it because it was so hot outside. I didn’t even think about it after I’d finished. It wasn’t until I started coaching that I thought, ‘Well, actually, a warm up is to get your body ready. You know how to hit a golf shot. You know how to strike it.’ I just got my body moving properly and then I went onto the course and it was, ‘Oh God, this feels easy.’
What do you need to do to play well at Southern Hills?
Everything, obviously! But, I got the ball in position off the tee and my approach play was really good that week. I holed a couple of long putts – 40 and 50 feet – that you don’t really expect but you’ve got to get the ball in position, off the tee and on the greens.
I remember the greens being pretty generous but a few are quite slopy and my pace putting was really good. We talk about start lines and stuff like that, but pace is so important. You look at somebody who putts well, their pace is brilliant.
Who might do well this time?
A Collin Morikawa. He is the best in the world with his irons.
Looking back, how proud are you of that performance and what do you think it did for your career. You won a lot of tournaments and the Alfred Dunhill Links after that?
It’s bang up there. I’ve never really spoken about it. Everyone just talks about the wins, don’t they? It was a great week. The more I look back at it now and reminisce, it just gave me that real self-belief because that’s when I started to win the bigger tournaments on tour. I knew I could compete against the top players.
Especially at the Dunhill. Going out in the last round, I was tied with Darren Clarke and a shot behind Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy. Normally, I’d have gone out there and thinking one of those will win it, whereas I was thinking this will be a great one to win. I think I birdied six of my first eight holes. There was no fear there anymore.
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In the past couple of years, you’ve launched the Simon Dyson Academy. How are things going?
It’s good and it progresses. It was started to help people understand their games better, which I still do. I get people understanding how far they hit and what their preferences are.
Now, when I get a good player, it’s more about the psychology. I’ve done a few psychology courses and, the more I look into it, the easier this game is the easier you keep it.
The reason why players struggle is because they’ve probably got about six swing thoughts in the head. I like to keep it really simple and help them on the course understand the shot that is best for them, and then stepping into that shot and committing to it.
I’m just in the process of doing a course on ACT – Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. They are two of the biggest words in golf: acceptance and commitment. I know this because the minute I started to accept what was happening on the course I got so much better.
And your work in media has been expanding too?
I’ve joined the Sky Sports team on the EuroPro Tour. That starts at the back end of May, which I am really looking forward to because I love media work. I absolutely love it and I think I’ve got a pretty good knowledge of golf and I’ll be doing a bit of on course and a bit of presenting. I’m looking forward to it.
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Simon Dyson runs the Simon Dyson Academy at Mottram Hall in Cheshire. You can find out more on his website.
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