DAVID Howell was pleased not to have ‘wasted a week’ after earning a top 40 finish at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship this weekend.

The Broome Manor professional finished tied for 37th in the Middle East having shot three-under over the four days, leaving him 11 shots behind eventual winner Pablo Larrazabal.

Howell made progress up the leaderboard over the weekend after only just sneaking through the cut and was ultimately pleased, if not delighted, with his week’s work.

“I made nice progress over the weekend which is always nice and to finish in the top 40 was good, meaning it wasn’t a wasted week.

“I guess ultimately I didn’t quite play well enough, didn’t drive the ball well enough or putt well enough to be right up there. If you weren’t right on your game you couldn’t bluff anything and you had to play really well to get round the golf course.”