Howell hopeful of British Open progress

David Howell knows he is capable of winning any tournament he plays now. But just to do himself justice for once is the bottom line when it comes to the British Open championship.

“I’d like to think I can finally beat 72nd or something, which is possibly about my best finish,” said the 31-year-old European Order of Merit leader.

Howell is doing himself a bit of a disservice. His best was actually 42nd, but he is excused for not remembering that because it was eight years ago and for the last five seasons he has had one failure to qualify, four successive missed cuts and then last year a withdrawal before the start because of injury.

“I’m looking forward to it this year – just to try and put four decent scores on the board,” he added.

Not that he is alone among Europe’s elite in attempting to put in a performance to bury some bad past memories.

Ryder Cup partner Paul Casey, who moved into second place on the money list with his recent victory at Gleneagles, has made the halfway cut only once in four appearances so far.

The exception was Troon two years ago, where he led playing with Phil Mickelson on the opening day, but then slipped back to finish 20th.

Luke Donald, meanwhile, was in his sixth attempt before he finally survived the cut at St Andrews last year, a breakthrough slightly lost in the hullabaloo of partnering Jack Nicklaus in his last major championship.

And as for Nick Dougherty, the youngest of the British quartet, his delight at being exempt for the British Open on a Royal Liverpool course close to his home was partly explained by the fact that after three failures to qualify this will be the 24-year-old’s debut.

Howell knows Hoylake well too. He reached the quarter-finals of the British Amateur there in 1995 before losing to eventual winner and Walker Cup team-mate Gordon Sherry.

“I’ve played quite a lot of golf there over the years and have some reasonably good memories,” he said.

Howell has really thrust himself forward into the limelight in the past 12 months, beating Tiger Woods head-to-head in Shanghai in November and then leaving the rest for dead in the BMW Championship at Wentworth in May.

After all the mayhem at the end of the recent US Open it is easy to forget that he stood four under par late in his opening round and was the clear leader. Nobody had any idea at that point that Geoff Ogilvy’s winning score three days later would be four over.

He fell back to a level-par 70 that first day and followed it with a 78, but did at least get back to 16th place with a closing 69.

Beating Woods has more than anything boosted Howell’s confidence and it is not just bravado when he says: “I’m not intimidated by anybody. I’m comfortable with my position. Two or three years ago guys that were winning Order of Merits seemed in different stratospheres to where I was, but I guess I’ve worked my way somewhere close.

“I’ve never got ahead of myself in my career, but I’m in a position now where if I was to pitch up at any of the four majors and play great every day I’d probably have a chance to win.

“Obviously playing great every day is the difficult bit and then you need the bit of luck that someone like Tiger doesn’t play great every day as well.”

Asked why he is playing at a higher level now compared to even two years ago when he secured a first Ryder Cup cap only on the very last day of qualifying he said: “I just do everything better. It’s an appalling answer, but that’s it.

“My swing has become more consistent with my coach Clive Tucker and I’ve got more self-belief and more experience.

“It takes a long time to learn this game and I’m just getting there I guess. I was pretty raw when I came out on tour.

“Where I’ll end up I don’t know. If I can continue to improve, then I’m obviously going to be pretty good.”