NORTH Yorkshire golf ace Simon Dyson is back in the groove again after five weeks out through injury.

Dyson picked up his clubs in serious action for the first time today in a coaching session with his mentor - top-rated golf guru Pete Cowen - with the aim of blasting back into a major impact on the European Tour next week.

The 25-year-old Dyson was halted in his tracks last month by a freak accident. The driver's door of his Audi TTT sports car was caught by the wind to crash smack into his right hand breaking the bone that connects the wrist to his little finger.

Initially he feared he could be out for as long as six weeks, thereby missing half a dozen lucrative tournaments in which prize money totalled more than £11million.

But this week the Malton and Norton Golf Club ace was given the go-ahead from a specialist to resume full training and today he was out with Cowen at a course near Dyson's Manchester base at the start of two days of intensive coaching.

Dyson's aim is be back in tip-top condition for a crack at next week's British Masters tournament at the Forest of Arden course.

The injury had already ruled him out of the Italian Open, the Benson and Hedges championship, the European Open in Hamburg, last week's Volvo Masters, plus the Wales Open, which started today at Celtic Manor.

Had the worst prognosis come true then he would have also missed the next two weeks of the European programme.

He himself had thought the Diageo Championship in Gleneagles in the middle of next month would have marked his return. But the Forest of Arden event, which starts a week today, is now a realistic target.

A relieved Dyson told the Evening Press: "I just can't wait to get cracking again. I've been so bored - immensely bored.

"I'm out with Pete (Cowen) for the next couple of days for an intense bout of chipping and putting, which I have been doing all this week since the specialist said I could remove the tape which was holding the injury.

"Over the last couple of days I've been hitting a few nine-iron shots and it's been fine - no pain at all. I believe I'll be all right to come back next week, which would be two weeks earlier than expected."

Apart from last year when he missed two tournaments - one with a mystery bug, the other with a hand injury unconnected to his current blow - Dyson revealed how he had never before missed a European Tour event.

"I don't want to go through this again. This is by far the longest time I've been out," declared Dyson, who entered this year determined to bag a tour title.

If he does return next week then Dyson should be able to put the miles in. During his enforced exile he has run every day to maintain stamina levels. Now all he needs is to get back into the wood and metal groove again.

Updated: 11:16 Thursday, May 29, 2003