Dyson facing cold shoulder from players on his return from 'cheat' storm in Abu Dhabi



Simon Dyson faces an uncertain reception when he returns to action for the first time since he was given a suspended two-month ban from the European Tour at this week's Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

One well-respected player said that the issue is a 'hot potato' and he would prefer not to be paired with Dyson in the £1.6million event.



'We just have to put the blinkers on and get on with it,' the player, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.



Back in the swing: Simon Dyson returns to European Tour action this week in Abu Dhabi

Error: Dyson was disqualified from the BMW Masters for tapping down a spike mark on the line of his putt

Dyson was joint second after 36 holes of the BMW Masters in October when he was disqualified for signing for an incorrect score in the second round.



The 36-year-old failed to add a two-shot penalty to his card after an incident on the eighth hole at Lake Malaren, when he touched the line of his putt after marking his ball, using the ball to flatten a spike mark.



Having reviewed the incident after being alerted to it by television viewers, European Tour officials charged Dyson with a serious breach of the Tour's code of behaviour, a charge which was upheld when the Yorkshireman appeared before a three-person disciplinary panel at Wentworth in December.



Mickelson set to challenge McIlroy and Stenson in £2.2m Abu Dhabi shootout Open champion Phil Mickelson makes a rare European Tour outing this week when he competes in the £2.2million HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship. The first event of the tour's annual Middle East swing, which also includes the Qatar Masters and Dubai Desert Classic, starts on Thursday and features Mickelson and three other golfers from the world's top 10 - Henrik Stenson, Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia.

American left-hander Mickelson (below), ranked fifth in the world, will be making his second appearance in Abu Dhabi having tied for 37th place in 2011.

Twelve months ago Welshman Jamie Donaldson claimed the biggest tournament victory of his career, eclipsing a strong field including McIlroy and 14-times major winner Tiger Woods to lift the coveted Falcon Trophy.

'It was a great win last year,' Donaldson told the tour website. 'Going back anywhere that you've played and won before is really good.' World No 3 Stenson will be the highest-ranked player in this week's field. Northern Irishman McIlroy (below), ranked seventh, has only been outside the top-11 once in six previous appearances but the player with the best record in Abu Dhabi is Ryder Cup hero Martin Kaymer.

He was given a two-month ban from the European Tour, suspended for 18 months, but was cleared of 'a premeditated act of cheating' in a somewhat contradictory verdict.



The panel, chaired by Ian Mill QC and made up of European Senior Tour player Gordon Brand Jnr and League Managers' Association chief executive Richard Bevan, found that Dyson deliberately pressed down the spike mark to improve his position, despite knowing it was against the rules.

According to the panel, the 'extreme seriousness' of such an offence 'in the appropriate case' would warrant an immediate suspension, but Dyson's previous good conduct and the fact that it was a 'momentary aberration on his part, not a premeditated act of cheating', was taken into consideration.



However, it is understood that a number of players feel Dyson got off lightly when he was penalised two shots in the 2009 Portuguese Open after being deemed to have have improved his stance after his ball ended up at the base of a bush.



Dyson's only public comment on the incident came via a statement released on October 31 last year, which read: 'I would like to say at this stage that I have never deliberately broken the rules either on this occasion or in the past.



'It was only after I was shown the replay of my action after marking the ball on the eighth green during the second round that I realised what I had done and that I was in breach. I immediately accepted that I should be disqualified.



'My action was in no way a deliberate act with the intention of breaking the rules. It was simply an accidental mistake which I have no reservations in apologising for and particularly to my fellow professionals and the Tour for any inconvenience and embarrassment unintentionally caused.'



The incident occurred in the first of the inaugural Final Series events at the end of the 2013 season.



Dyson did not play in either of the following two tournaments, thereby ending his chances of finishing in the top 60 on the Race to Dubai and qualifying for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.

