David Howell

I say apologetically, ‘Well I’m part of the team,’ and he says, ‘What team? What are you on about?’ So I say, ‘You know, the Ryder Cup team,’ but he’s just looking at me as if I was mad. Some big American bloke behind me says: ‘I don’t believe it, you boys just kicked our asses for three days and now I’m going to have to buy you a beer.’ I'm standing there thinking, nice one Howler, you’ve just won the Ryder Cup and still nobody knows who the hell you are.”

So, for a guy who was “as erratic a golfer as you could find” when he first qualified for tour school back in 1995, he’s done all right, hasn’t he? From Broome Manor Golf Club in Swindon, Wiltshire (who recently named their spike bar in his honour) to being among the world’s Top 50 golfers takes some doing.

While sipping his coffee and munching the occasional chocolate digestive he throws the odd Howell-ism into conversation (sample: “putting has been the strongest part of my game probably because I’ve been so bloody weak in other areas”), but you know that he knows there are strengths to this man’s character that are not to be underestimated.

“I’ve got a good head for golf,” he admits, “that’s my best quality. I can take a bad shot very well, I keep trying, I don’t give up, I don’t get affected by much on the golf course. I get the ball round in as few shots as possible. I’ve just got a knack for scoring at the end of the day. You’d get loads of guys standing on the range next to me, particularly when I started out, who would hit the ball better than me, control the ball better than me; but wouldn’t score as well as me.”

He’s seen many next big things come and go and, more importantly, he’s seen his mates struggle to make it. During his first season as a 20-year-old tour professional living at home, he won enough money not to have any difficult decisions to make down the line. Now that his bank account is in even healthier shape, he’s invested it in a nice house in Swindon and this modest affair in Weybridge. He’s never bought a car, preferring to use sponsors’ vehicles (his current one is a Jaguar X-Type) and his biggest investment is in his own game, with membership of Queenwood offering the best facilities money can buy. He is the absolute antithesis of today’s moneyed flash Harry golfer.

“Out of my direct circle of friends I’ve probably done the best. I’m good friends with Ian Garbutt, Stuart Cage, Raymond Russell, Robert Coles, David Higgins, two or three of those have won a tournament and struggled ever since. Robert Coles had his best year last season. These are guys who’ve had to make some pretty difficult decisions along the way.

“Golf is a horrible... no, not a horrible way to make a living, just it’s a very, very difficult way to earn a living.”

You might not expect a player like Howell to dream of being World Number 1, but there is an undeniable edge of steel that marks him just as much of a competitor as the showboating fist- pumpers on tour. He’s quite forthright about breaking into the Top 30 and beyond: “I’ve gone up something like 60 places in the rankings. I’ve only played four events in America in nine years – I’ve got 12 starts this season, including the Majors. I’ve got to try and kick on now.” So underestimate David Howell at your own risk. While he’s quite happy to take the mick out of himself (“I don’t really think my Ryder Cup point really outshone Lee or Sergio’s four and a half”), he’s savvy enough to politely decline a request to photograph a couple of trophies sitting on his mantelpiece: “I know I haven’t won much, but a couple of Pro Am trophies are going to make me look really sad.”

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