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David Howell (golfer)

English professional golfer


Summary

English professional golfer

FieldValue
nameDavid Howell
imageDavid Howell 2004 cropped.jpg
imagesize
fullnameDavid Alexander Howell
birth_date
birth_placeSwindon, Wiltshire, England
death_date
height
weight175 lb
nationality
residenceVirginia Water, Surrey, England
Dubai, UAE
spouseEmily
children3
yearpro1995
retired
tourEuropean Tour (joined 1996)
extourPGA Tour (2006–07)
prowins7
pgawins
eurowins5
japwins
auswins1
nwidewins
chalwins
champwins
seneurowins
otherwins1
majorwins
mastersT11: 2005
usopenT16: 2006
openT7: 2008
pgaT45: 2004
wghofid
wghofyear
award1
year1
awardssection

Dubai, UAE

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. He played in the Ryder Cup in 2004 and 2006. Howell holds the record for most starts on the European Tour.

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.

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.

The season 2017 proved to be Howell's most disappointing on tour and, speaking in December, said it had been 'two years of hell'. 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.

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

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. 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.

In August 2022 at the Cazoo Classic, Howell became just the third player, after Sam Torrence and Miguel Ángel Jiménez, to reach 700 career appearances on the European Tour and the youngest to ever do so. He surpassed Jiménez for most European Tour starts at the 2023 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, Howell's 722nd event. Howell ended the 2024 season with 726 European Tour starts.

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

  • 1993 Boys Amateur Championship

Professional wins (7)

European Tour wins (5)

Legend
Flagship events (1)
Other European Tour (4)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victoryRunner(s)-up
114 Feb 1999Dubai Desert Classic−13 (69-68-71-67=275)4 strokesENG Lee Westwood
228 Aug 2005BMW International Open−23 (66-68-66-65=265)1 strokeUSA John Daly, AUS Brett Rumford
313 Nov 2005
(2006 season)HSBC Champions1−20 (65-67-68-68=268)3 strokesUSA Tiger Woods
428 May 2006BMW Championship−17 (68-65-69-69=271)5 strokesENG Simon Khan
529 Sep 2013Alfred Dunhill Links Championship−23 (67-68-63-67=265)PlayoffUSA Peter Uihlein

1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, Sunshine Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia, but unofficial event on those tours.

European Tour playoff record (1–4)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
12001Victor Chandler British MastersSWE Mathias Grönberg, SWE Robert Karlsson,
FRA Thomas LevetLevet won with birdie on third extra hole
Howell and Karlsson eliminated by par on first hole
22005Daily Telegraph Dunlop MastersDNK Thomas Bjørn, ENG Brian DavisBjørn won with par on second extra hole
Davis eliminated by par on first hole
32005Nissan Irish OpenWAL Stephen DoddLost to birdie on first extra hole
42008Estoril Open de PortugalFRA Grégory Bourdy, SCO Alastair ForsythBourdy won with birdie on third extra hole
Forsyth eliminated by par on second hole
52013Alfred Dunhill Links ChampionshipUSA Peter UihleinWon with birdie on second extra hole

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (1)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victoryRunner-up
122 Nov 1998MasterCard Australian PGA Championship−13 (69-66-72-68=275)7 strokesTRI Stephen Ames, AUS Terry Price

Other wins (1)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victoryRunners-up
16 Dec 2015Beko Classic−11 (70-68-67=205)5 strokesENG Jamie Elson, SWE Pontus Widegren

Results in major championships

Tournament199719981999
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open
The Open ChampionshipCUTT44T45
PGA Championship
Tournament2000200120022003200420052006200720082009
Masters TournamentT11T19T44
U.S. OpenCUTWDT16
The Open ChampionshipCUTCUTCUTCUTCUTT53T7T52
PGA ChampionshipT45CUT67CUT
Tournament2010201120122013201420152016
Masters Tournament
U.S. OpenCUTT65
The Open ChampionshipT15T49T22
PGA ChampionshipCUT

CUT = missed the halfway cut

WD = withdrew

"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts madeTotals0000162715
Masters Tournament00000233
U.S. Open00000152
The Open Championship000013148
PGA Championship00000052
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 3 (twice)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament200520062007
The Players ChampionshipCUTT38WD

CUT = missed the halfway cut

WD = withdrew

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament2003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015
Match PlayR32QFR64
ChampionshipT283T6T13T55
InvitationalT6T59T61T73T52
Champions70T30

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

  • Jacques Léglise Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1993 (winners)
  • European Youths' Team Championship (representing England): 1994
  • Walker Cup (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1995

Professional

  • Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing England): 1999
  • Seve Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2000, 2003 (winners), 2005 (winners)
  • Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 2004 (winners), 2006 (winners)
  • WGC-World Cup (representing England): 2005, 2006
  • Royal Trophy (representing Europe): 2006 (winners), 2013 (winners)

References

References

  1. (23 January 2015). "It's been a while!". Davidhowellgolf.com.
  2. "69 Players Who Have Reached The Top-10 In World Ranking". OWGR.
  3. (3 July 2014). "Youthful Howell hits the 500 mark". PGA European Tour.
  4. "Beko Classic 2015 – Leaderboard". PGAs of Europe.
  5. Inglis, Martin. (21 December 2017). "David Howell opens up on 'two years of hell'".
  6. (11 January 2018). "New injury agony for Swindon golfer David Howell".
  7. (17 August 2018). "David Howell: 600 and counting".
  8. (8 October 2014). "Howell completes Ryder Cup captaincy selection panel". PGA European Tour.
  9. (18 January 2017). "Changes made to Membership criteria and 2018 Ryder Cup qualification process". PGA European Tour.
  10. (4 August 2022). "David Howell Joins the 700 Club at Celtic Manor".
  11. "EGA Events, Results, European Team Championships, European Youths' Team Championship". European Golf Association.
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