Howell gets back to swing of things

GOLF: European Tour:Englishman David Howell is cautious over his chances at this week's inaugural Indian Masters as the former Ryder Cup winner slowly and patiently pieces his career back together.

Howell's troubles - which saw the Ryder Cup winner fall from a career-high ninth in the world - are well-documented, but he is currently two months through a six-month plan to develop his swing which will hopefully engineer an upturn in results.

The 32-year-old recorded his first top-10 finish since the 2006 Volvo Masters at last month's Qatar Masters to end his longest streak since he returned from a broken arm in 2002.

Last week's 44th-place finish in Dubai also brought a smile to the face of the four-time European Tour winner, who has enjoyed an injury-free start to the year which has allowed him to achieve the levels of practice needed to be able to compete again and resulted in him making three cuts in four events, a stark contrast to 2007.

"I wouldn't say it's been a solid start to the year, it's been positive," Howell said.

"Last year was quite amazing how poorly I played even with injuries. I didn't put a good round of golf together hardly at all so it's been a positive start.

"But I am in transition with where I am trying to go with my swing which will allow me to control the ball better than I have been. It is very hard to play while trying to make changes so I am limiting my chances of how well I can play at the moment when I swing the club in a different way, but soon that will click and I will be off and running. I have made some nice changes but they are still unnatural."

Howell still has one eye on earning a place in Nick Faldo's Ryder Cup team later this year, but as he is realistic in admitting he is well away from being a player capable of challenging the Americans at Valhalla, he would settle for a return to form and a fruitful decade on tour.

"I am really looking at this half of the year to look at my technique and make the changes I want to and if good results come along then great and hopefully things will click soon enough," he added.

"I just need to keep faith and be patient. If it takes two years to be a better player than the one I was two years ago then I am going to have a great career again."

World number four Ernie Els, who finished third in Dubai last week, headlines the field at the tight Delhi Golf Club, a 7,014-yard course which is built on the site of a 17th century tomb.

"It's a very narrow course and you have to get to know it," added Howell, who predicted a 12-under-par total would be enough to win the title on Sunday after hitting several wayward shots during Wednesday's pro-am.

"I don't think anyone will play the course aggressively, maybe someone on Friday if they have not had a great start might try to attack for that one round to make up some ground, but apart from that one round I think you will see everyone leave the woods in their bag."

Ireland's Darren Clarke, Damien McGrane and Graeme McDowell, fifth in Dubai last week, are also set to tee-off today, while Indian number one Jyoti Randhawa will look to build on back-to-back victories at the Indian Open, which is played at the same venue on the Asian Tour.