Howell injury concern

The odds on Paul Casey winning the European Order of Merit have shortened even further with David Howell rating his chances of teeing off in the Volvo Masters at Valderrama tomorrow as only “50-50 at best“.

Long-time leader Howell pulled out of the eve-of-tournament pro-am with a recurrence of the shoulder problem which has plagued him for much of the year.

“I’ve got a voice on each shoulder – one saying go home and stop being ridiculous, the other saying I might regret that decision,” said the Ryder Cup star.

“Golf and my body don’t particularly go together, which is a bit of a bummer. I know I should have been England football captain.

“I’m very fearful of playing and then having six to eight weeks off. It’s a big decision and I’m struggling to make it.”

Howell, Padraig Harrington and Robert Karlsson are the only three people who can deny Casey the coveted money-list title with just the one event left.

Casey, who ended Howell’s nine-month stay at the top by winning the HSBC World Match Play at Wentworth last month, leads Harrington by £146,163, with Howell and Karlsson £16,540 and £127,927 further behind respectively.

Harrington has to finish in the top three to have a chance and for the other two only first or second place keeps their hopes alive.

Much though he would love to have “2006 European number one” on his career record Howell has to think further ahead than just the next four days.

In two weeks’ time he is defending champion at the HSBC Champions event in Shanghai – the one where he beat Tiger Woods head-to-head last November – and before Christmas he also has a tournament in Japan, the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa, World Cup in Barbados and Target World Challenge in America.

Howell’s last tournament was the Frys.com Open in Las Vegas two weeks ago. His physiotherapist Dale Richardson wanted him to hit just one shot and then withdraw to satisfy the US Tour over its 15-event membership rule, but the 31-year-old managed rounds of 70, 65 and 70 before pulling out nine shots off the lead.

He went 10 days without hitting a single practice shot after that, but it is the memory of winning the BMW Championship at Wentworth by five strokes in May when operating at only around 70% that keeps nagging away at his mind.

He had been out for a month just before then with back trouble, but started suffering badly again at the US PGA in August, slumping to a closing 82.

“I pulled out of the pro-am today because I thought I had no chance of (playing) five rounds,” he added. “It’s given me another 27 hours of recovery time.”

Because the tee-off times are organised in money list order he is in the penultimate group with Karlsson, 10 minutes ahead of the Harrington-Casey showdown.