Dyson can’t wait to start rebuilding reputation

England’s Simon Dyson wants to put the worst moment of his career behind him as he returns to action for the first time since being handed a suspended two-month ban from the European Tour.

Dyson was joint second after 36 holes of the BMW Masters in October when he was disqualified for signing for an incorrect score in the second round.

The 36-year-old failed to add a two-shot penalty to his card after an incident on the eighth hole at Lake Malaren, when he touched the line of his putt after marking his ball, using the ball to flatten a spike mark.

Having reviewed the incident after being alerted to it by television viewers, European Tour officials charged Dyson with a serious breach of the Tour’s code of behaviour, a charge which was upheld in December.

The disciplinary panel found that Dyson deliberately pressed down the spike mark to improve his position, despite knowing it was against the rules.

However, in a somewhat contradictory statement, Dyson was cleared of “a premeditated act of cheating” and given a two-month ban, suspended for 18 months, fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £7,500 in costs.

Asked ahead of this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship if he had been through the lowest point of his career, Dyson said: “Yeah, massively. I don’t think you can get any worse really.

One fellow professional said a few days ago he would prefer not to be paired with Dyson in Abu Dhabi, but the Englishman insisted he had been well received so far.

“I’ve had so much support from people who know me and they know that’s not what I’m like. The support has been unbelievable.”

Speaking about the reaction from his fellow professionals, Dyson added: “It’s been great. I can’t say enough about them really. Everyone has been coming up and talking to me.”