SIMON Dyson’s dreams of making the Ryder Cup squad rest on the York-born golfer lighting up the course over the next few weeks.

After failing to make the cut at the French Open in Paris last weekend, the 32-year-old dropped out of the automatic places for European team captain Colin Montgomerie’s 12-man squad for the first time in almost a year.

As it stands, Dyson would not be one of the nine guaranteed to play at Celtic Manor in Wales in October – and he would depend on being one of the Scot’s three wild cards.

The Ryedale golf ace has slipped to 11th in the world points list for an event for which he would rank qualification as being “the best achievement of my life”.

Dyson missed the cut in France largely thanks to a nine on the final hole of the first round which resulted in a disastrous 78. An improved second effort of 70 should leave him in a better frame of mind for this week’s trial – the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond.

The tournament is a traditional warm up event for the Open Championship, held this year at St Andrew’s where Dyson scooped the biggest of his four European Tour titles to date when winning the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

He is part of a superb field which includes both of the year’s major champions – Masters winner Phil Mickelson and US Open victor Graeme McDowell – and starts from the tenth tee today with current USPGA champion YE Yang and Robert Allenby.

And he is still confident he can top the podium again this season, with the upshot of bagging his fifth Euro crown almost certainly sealing his place in the Ryder ranks.

Speaking following an appearance in a special match to commemorate Malton & Norton’s centenary, Dyson, currently at 76 in the world golf rankings, said: “I can see a title for me this season, for sure. I just need to keep doing what I have been doing because I have been playing well without getting the reward.

“I’ve been working on a few extra things over the past two weeks so I am in good shape.”