Golf:Simon Dyson's dream of playing in the Ryder Cup is still alive with only two days of the year-long marathon to go. A second round 70 in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles kept him in joint seventh place.
However, it might not be enough even if he does go crazy and grab the victory he needs to have a chance of a debut at Celtic Manor in just over a month.
Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez will keep out Dyson if he finishes in the top nine on Sunday — and after a 68 he is also six under par at halfway, three behind joint leaders David Lynn, Gary Boyd and Julien Guerrier.
That trio, Boyd and Guerrier both European Tour rookies, took over at the top from Richard Finch, but inevitably it is the battle for the two remaining guaranteed spots and three wild cards in Colin Montgomerie’s team that is dominating the week.
It is a battle being conducted on two fronts and with Montgomerie praising Padraig Harrington as he challenged Tiger Woods for the lead in America it seems almost certain now that the Irishman will be handed one of the captain’s picks.
Paul Casey, who had a second successive 69 at the first of the FedEx Cup play-offs, and Luke Donald are favourites for the others and that would mean Edoardo Molinari and Justin Rose — 21st and 22nd in the world — being the unfortunate two to miss out.
Dyson, though, has thoughts now only on what he faces. With big-hitting Alvaro Quiros, also on a win-or-bust mission, only just squeezing through the cut on one under par, the English golfer looks like the only threat to Jimenez and Peter Hanson.
Swede Hanson won last week’s Czech Open to move into eighth place on the points table and since he is also six under at halfway — so are Molinari and his brother Francesco — it is shaping up to be to a straight battle between Dyson and Jimenez.