Howell homes in on Augusta

DAVID HOWELL boosted his chances of qualifying for the Masters with an impressive 65 at St Andrews yesterday to jump to the top of the leaderboard at the Dunhill Links Championship.

But after a fine start, Ireland's Graeme McDowell dropped four shots late on to finish four shots behind Howell.

World number one and two Vijay Singh and Ernie Els will consider themselves still in contention despite being eight and six shots off the pace respectively.