BRADLEY Dredge is looking to re-ignite his Ryder Cup dream and continue his career renaissance with a great performance at golf’s biggest tournament this week.

Blackwood’s Dredge has qualified for the 150th Open Championship – beginning tomorrow at St Andrews, the home of golf – after a dreadful couple of years that saw him plummet out of the world’s top 200 after peaking at 49 in 2007.

However, following a real revival on the back of a solid Wales Open, Dredge looks to be back to his best having shot up to 130.

His most recent performances include a top-five finish at the BMW Open in Germany and top 20 turns in Portugal and at Loch Lomond last week.

Those showings have given him hope of producing the goods in Scotland this week.

Dredge is actually the course record holder for the Old Course at St Andrews, having shot 64 there in the first round of the 2006 Dunhill Links Championship, a record since the course was lengthened that has stood the test of time.

So with the omens good, Dredge is fully focused on a top week, with the Ryder Cup very much in his mind.

“Going back for the 150th anniversary Open at St Andrews is going to make this week a pretty special event and something I’m proud to be a part of,” he said.

“An Open at St Andrews is big enough as it is but an anniversary and being a Ryder Cup year makes this one even more special.

“I’d love to be part of the Ryder Cup still and though it’s going to be extremely difficult, you never know.

“My focus is not to think about it but to try and produce the golf I know I can to give myself a chance of winning a tournament, like I did at the BMW Open for 63 holes (Dredge was two shots clear and chasing a wire-to-wire win before a double bogey disaster on 16).

“A win at St Andrews or a tournament after that and I’m right back in it, though I know time is running out for the Ryder Cup.

“Things can change very quickly at big tournaments and that’s something I always keep in mind.”

However, Dredge is wary that St Andrews has a habit of forcing mistakes, as it did in 2006 when he lost out to Padraig Harrington in the Dunhill Links, particularly if you find the bunkers, known as some of the toughest in the world.

“When you hit the ball into St Andrews bunkers they are so small they tend to go into the edges of the traps rather than the middle making getting out of them hazardous,” he said.

“I know that full well as hitting into the sand on the 11th in 2006 cost me the chance of a third European Tour title.

“Unless you are Tiger Woods, you are going to hit the ball into a bunker playing four rounds of the Open Championship, and that’s when you need a bit of luck.

“I remember Tiger winning the Claret Jug in 2000 and never going into the sand and that is a truly incredible achievement, even by his own high standards.

“You can be stood on tees knowing fairway bunkers are out there but having no direct view of them.

“I have played St Andrews so many times and I still can’t tell you where every bunker is located.

“I’ve gone around with local caddies, veterans of the Old Course, and even they can’t tell you with any certainty the location of the bunkers off the tees because of the blind shots.

“You know roughly where they are and you know roughly where you need to go but St Andrews is a unique course to any other we play in the professional game.

“Over the last couple of weeks I’ve played in Munich, Paris and Loch Lomond with soft courses. Playing the Open after that is like hitting the ball off the motorway.

“But it is a special place… a course like nowhere else.”