ST ANDREWS’ hallowed course – and Europe’s increasing primacy in world golf – will provide a double lift for York-born Simon Dyson.

The 32-year-old, who was out today as the tenth man to start the 139th Open Championship at the feted Scottish venue, is desperate to get back into a club-class groove in the quest for a Ryder Cup place.

If ever there was a venue to inspire Dyson to greater heights then it will be St Andrews.

Just nine months ago Dyson was standing on the famous Swilcan Bridge holding aloft the gleaming Alfred Dunhill Links Championship trophy.

Not only was it his fourth European Tour title, and not only did it earn him close on £500,000 to smash through the £1 million earnings barrier in 2009, but the canny conquest also elevated him into the world’s leading 50 players.

No wonder Dyson declared: “It is one of my favourite courses. There’s something about the place and I always love playing here.

“To have actually walked down the final fairway at St Andrews knowing such a big prize was awaiting me was just amazing. Even now, I have to pinch myself to realise it did actually happen.”

Dyson’s advance into the world’s elite also had him figuring for almost the past year in the automatic top nine picks for the European team to face America in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor in less than three months’ time.

But after missing the half-way cuts in his last two tournaments, the French Open and last week’s Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, Dyson’s grip on that cherished place has fallen away.

The world number 73 is now 13th in the European Ryder Cup rankings.

He has acknowledged that to be picked for the European team would be the achievement of his golfing life. “If it happens, it happens,” he said.

But the prospect of selection has been cast to the back of his mind so that he can concentrate on getting his accurate fairway to green play back up to scratch.

And he believes he will be aided by the buzz that is searing through the European game.

Irishman Graeme McDowell’s capture of the US Open last month further swelled the growing strength of the European game. The continent presently boasts five of the players in the world top ten.

“There’s a definite buzz in European golf,” declared Dyson, who still plays out of Malton & Norton GC.

“I don’t think it’s been as strong as this for many years now and it’s great to be part of the European Tour.”