Simon Dyson has spoken for the first time at his relief over avoiding a serious European Tour sanction for breaching the rules. Dyson was handed a fine and a suspended two-month ban by the tour after tapping down a spike mark on a green at the BMW Masters in October.

He failed to penalise himself two strokes. The offence was deemed a “momentary aberration” rather than a “premeditated act of cheating” at a hearing in early December.

Dyson is acutely aware of the culture of golf and, therein, attitudes towards rule-breaking.

"I don't think you can get any worse, really," he said of such stigmas. "Luckily, it didn't get quite there. It wasn't very nice. The last two years I have not really enjoyed my golf and then to have it all topped off by that was, yes, pretty low. There's only one way it can go now, hopefully.

Support
"I have had so much support from people who know me and they know that's not what I'm like. The support has been unbelievable. "

Speculation that fellow players may take a dim view of Dyson’s actions has not been borne out before the HSBC Golf Championship in Abu Dhabi, his first appearance since the hearing. He left the putting green yesterday in deep conversation with Rory McIlroy.

Another in the field, Luke Donald, said: “I spoke to Simon yesterday but it was more just pleasantries. I haven’t talked to him about the incident.

“The body language I got from him was that he probably has some remorse and feels bad about what happened. I think it is something that he’ll remember and learn from and hopefully it doesn’t happen again.”

On the reaction from other golfers this week, Dyson said: “It has been great. I can’t say enough about them, really. Nobody has said anything. Everyone has been coming up and talking to me. Nobody has mentioned it.

“Like I said before, it’s gone now and there isn’t anything anybody can say or do that will change what happened. I wish I could. But nobody can. So I just have to get on with it and carry on.”

Dyson insisted after the incident at Lake Malaren in Shanghai he was not guilty of deliberate wrongdoing.

“There was never intent whatsoever there,” he said. “There was no intent to try to get an advantage. I’m just going to be very careful from now on and be very professional about everything I do.”

Sergio Garcia reflected on his controversy from 2013, namely his infamous “fried chicken” jibe towards Tiger Woods at a European Tour dinner, and the abusive reaction of some fans when he subsequently appeared at the US Open.

“I don’t know if I was prepared for it,” he said. “It was my first week back there (in the US). And it was rough, it was difficult. Only by a minority, but they made themselves heard. But the good thing is the majority of the people knew me and what happened so they accepted my apologies.”

Asked whether he had spoken at length to Woods, as had not been the case at the time of the US Open, Garcia said: "We have seen each other at tournaments, yes."

Direct apology
Regarding a direct apology to the world number one, he added: "I can't apologise any more. I have apologised and re-apologised, so I think it is all over."

Garcia fell foul of one new European Tour regulation last season, but has pledged his support for another in 2014. Players currently have to play a minimum of 13 tournaments for European Tour membership, but that has been increased to 15 from this season if they do not contest their national open or equivalent tournament.

The move came in the wake of Garcia, Ernie Els and Charl Schwartzel being ineligible for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai after failing to compete in two of the first three events of the inaugural Final Series.

European Tour chief executive George O’Grady admitted the amount of golf played by its star names had been “underestimated” and promised a comprehensive review of the format.

Garcia believes that situation will be fixed and has backed the move to try to ensure more star players support their national events. “That’s fine by me,” Garcia said.

"I love to play in my country every time I can, so I'll be playing the Spanish Open in May and I'll be excited to be back there. I won't have to play 15 (tournaments)." –
Guardian Service