NORTH Yorkshire golf ace Simon Dyson was today looking to build on a blistering start to The 134th Open - in more ways than one.

The Malton and Norton player shot a solid two-under-par 70 to go into today's second round in sight of the overnight leaders and within striking distance of his top ten ambition.

Dyson and former champ Mark Calcavecchia set the pace for the rest of the field after racing round St Andrews to share the clubhouse lead just three hours and 42 minutes after the York-based man hit the first shot of the tournament.

Said York-based Dyson: "I played with two quick guys and two nice guys in Mark Calcavecchia and Rory Sabbatini and that's probably why they put us off first."

But the speed of play came at a price for Dyson, who was left limping off the 18th green.

He added: "I've got a blister on my heel and it burst at the end just coming down the last fairway."

His opening round included bogeys at the second, eighth and 15th holes but birdies at the fifth, lucky 13th and short par-four 18th, plus an eagle on the ninth - the first of the championship - kept him on track.

After missing the cut in his last three Open appearances, Dyson came into this year's tournament confident of breaking that record, especially after his performance at Loch Lomond last week which saw him scoop almost £30,000 after finishing 18th and gave him a new upgraded world ranking of 199.

Reflecting on that display. he said: "I played probably the best golf I have played all year last week and coming into this week we said top-30 but after speaking to my psychologist we agreed on top ten. That would be a fantastic week,"

Added Dyson: "The last two years, the Open winners (Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton) have been totally out of the blue so it might be a third year on the spin for someone unknown."

Dyson, American Calcavecchia and South African Sabbatini, who was further down the leaderboard on level-par, were today scheduled to hit the course for the telling second round at 11.41am.

Dyson's three previous attempts at the Open have all ended at the end of the second round.

Last year at Royal Troon he missed the cut by six shots after a 75 and 75 put him nine-over, and at Royal Lytham and St Anne's in 2001 he failed by the same margin.

His closest effort yet came in 2000 at St Andrews, where his 72 and 74 saw him miss out by just two shots. He will be hoping to go a long way better than that this time round after enjoying his best-ever day at the Open yesterday.

Today's second round was prefaced by a shock exit. American David Toms disqualified himself as he felt he might have hit a moving ball while tapping in on the 17th.

Toms, who took a double-bogey on the hole, said: "The more I thought about it there was too much uncertainty and thought it was better that I disqualified myself."

Updated: 11:07 Friday, July 15, 2005