David Howell (golfer)

David Alexander Howell (born 23 June 1975) is an English professional golfer. His career peaked in 2006, when he won the BMW Championship and was ranked in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for a short time.[2] He played in the Ryder Cup in 2004 and 2006.

David Howell
Personal information
Full nameDavid Alexander Howell
Born (1975-06-23) 23 June 1975
Swindon, Wiltshire, England
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight175 lb (79 kg; 12.5 st)
Nationality England
ResidenceVirginia Water, Surrey, England
Dubai, UAE
SpouseEmily
ChildrenFreddie George
Career
Turned professional1995
Current tour(s)European Tour (joined 1996)
Former tour(s)PGA Tour (2006–07)
Professional wins7
Highest ranking9 (11 June 2006)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour5
Asian Tour1
Sunshine Tour1
PGA Tour of Australasia2
Other1
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT11: 2005
PGA ChampionshipT45: 2004
U.S. OpenT16: 2006
The Open ChampionshipT7: 2008

Career

After training and competing at Broome Manor Golf Club, he became a professional golfer in 1995. He won the 1998 Australian PGA Championship, and the 1999 Dubai Desert Classic. He had no further wins for six years, but his form was nonetheless on a general upwards curve. He was tenth on the European Tour Order of Merit in 2004 and 2005 proved to be even better. In the spring he had back to back second places in The Daily Telegraph Dunlop Masters and the Nissan Irish Open, and in August, won the BMW International Open. By the autumn he reached the top 20 in the world rankings.

In November 2005, he won the inaugural HSBC Champions tournament, the first event of the 2006 European Tour season. The win took him to a career high of number 13 in the Official World Golf Ranking, making him the highest-ranked British player and the second highest-ranked European at that time. In May 2006, he won the BMW Championship and moved into the world top ten for the first time. In June he moved to a new high of ninth. After leading the Order of Merit for most of the 2006 season, he eventually finished in 3rd place; a back injury caused his form to suffer in the latter half of the season and limited his appearances through 2007.

In 2013, Howell had his first European Tour win in seven years at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, beating American Peter Uihlein in a playoff. Howell had previously gone 0–4 in European Tour playoffs.

In 2014, Howell became the second youngest player in history to reach 500 appearances on European Tour when he played at the Open de France.[3]

Howell won the Beko Classic, a tournament sanctioned by the PGAs of Europe, by 5 shots after rounds of 70, 69 and 67 at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal in Turkey in 2015.[4]

The season 2017 proved to be Howell's most disappointing on tour and, speaking in December, said it had been 'two years of hell'.[5] His season was ravaged by back and wrist injuries and he made only five halfway cuts from 20 events, the fewest he has ever made in a whole season resulting in his worst ever Order of Merit ranking.

He suffered another injury setback in January 2018 with a shoulder injury forcing him to retire from the BMW South African Open.[6]

At the Nordea Masters in August 2018, Howell became just the tenth player in the European Tour's history to reach 600 career appearances.[7]

Howell was a member of the winning European Ryder Cup teams in 2004 and 2006. As a member of the Great Britain & Ireland team in the Seve Trophy he was on the losing side in 2000, but a winner in 2003. He has also represented Europe at the Royal Trophy twice in 2006 and 2013 and has been on the winning side on both occasions. He came from 3 down with 4 to play to win his singles match in 2013 against Kim Hyung-sung as Europe pulled off an impressive fightback.

In 2014, Howell was named as part of a five-man selection panel deciding Europe's 2016 Ryder Cup captain.[8] The panel unanimously appointed Darren Clarke to the role.

In January 2017, it was announced that Howell had been voted unanimously to succeed Thomas Bjørn as chairman of the European Tour's Tournament Committee.[9]

Howell is represented by Octagon.

He also occasionally works for Sky Sports as a commentator and analyst as well as writing regular columns for The Golf Paper and Worldwide Golf. He is sponsored by Titleist and plays with the Titleist ProV1x ball. He was sponsored by Adams Golf for three years from May 2013 but has since returned to TaylorMade.

Amateur wins

Professional wins (7)

European Tour wins (5)
Legend
BMW Championships (1)
Other European Tour (4)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner(s)-up
1 14 Feb 1999 Dubai Desert Classic −13 (69-68-71-67=275) 4 strokes Lee Westwood
2 28 Aug 2005 BMW International Open −23 (66-68-66-65=265) 1 stroke John Daly, Brett Rumford
3 13 Nov 2005
(2006 season)		 HSBC Champions1 −20 (65-67-68-68=268) 3 strokes Tiger Woods
4 28 May 2006 BMW Championship −17 (68-65-69-69=271) 5 strokes Simon Khan
5 29 Sep 2013 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship −23 (67-68-63-67=265) Playoff Peter Uihlein

1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, Sunshine Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia

European Tour playoff record (1–4)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 2001 Victor Chandler British Masters Mathias Grönberg, Robert Karlsson,
Thomas Levet		 Levet won with birdie on third extra hole
Howell and Karlsson eliminated by par on first hole
2 2005 Daily Telegraph Dunlop Masters Thomas Bjørn, Brian Davis Bjørn won with par on second extra hole
Davis eliminated by par on first hole
3 2005 Nissan Irish Open Stephen Dodd Lost to birdie on first extra hole
4 2008 Estoril Open de Portugal Grégory Bourdy, Alastair Forsyth Bourdy won with birdie on third extra hole
Forsyth eliminated by par on second hole
5 2013 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Peter Uihlein Won with birdie on second extra hole

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (2)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner(s)-up
1 22 Nov 1998 MasterCard Australian PGA Championship −13 (69-66-72-68=275) 7 strokes Stephen Ames, Terry Price
2 13 Nov 2005 HSBC Champions1 −20 (65-67-68-68=268) 3 strokes Tiger Woods

1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour, Asian Tour and Sunshine Tour

Other wins (1)

Results in major championships
Tournament199719981999
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open
The Open Championship CUT T44 T45
PGA Championship
Tournament2000200120022003200420052006200720082009
Masters Tournament T11 T19 T44
U.S. Open CUT WD T16
The Open Championship CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT T53 T7 T52
PGA Championship T45 CUT 67 CUT
Tournament2010201120122013201420152016
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open CUT T65
The Open Championship T15 T49 T22
PGA Championship CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary
TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Masters Tournament00000233
U.S. Open00000152
The Open Championship000013148
PGA Championship00000052
Totals0000162715
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 3 (twice)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in The Players Championship
Tournament 200520062007
The Players Championship CUT T38 WD

CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships
Tournament2003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015
Match Play R32 QF R64
Championship T28 3 T6 T13 T55
Invitational T6 T59 T61 T73 T52
Champions 70 T30
  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

References
  1. "Week 23 2006 Ending 11 Jun 2006" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  2. "69 Players Who Have Reached The Top-10 In World Ranking" (PDF). OWGR.
  3. "Youthful Howell hits the 500 mark". PGA European Tour. 3 July 2014.
  4. "Beko Classic 2015 – Leaderboard". PGAs of Europe.
  5. Inglis, Martin (21 December 2017). "David Howell opens up on 'two years of hell'". bunkered.
  6. "New injury agony for Swindon golfer David Howell". 11 January 2018. Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  7. "David Howell: 600 and counting". 17 August 2018. Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  8. "Howell completes Ryder Cup captaincy selection panel". PGA European Tour. 8 October 2014.
  9. "Changes made to Membership criteria and 2018 Ryder Cup qualification process". PGA European Tour. 18 January 2017.
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