DAVID Howell insists that he was always likely to miss The Championship in Singapore.

The Broome Manor pro has seen his form take a dramatic fall in his two previous outings in South East Asia, failing to make the cut in both the Malaysian and China Opens.

And while the tournament at the Laguna National in Tampines gets underway today, the 38-year-old is back home in Surrey with his family.

“I always intended to take a couple of weeks off,” Howell told the Advertiser. “Although I was entered, I was always likely to withdraw and spend some time with my family.

“It is fair to say that the trip has been shocking, to be honest in the nine events I have played so far I have been very disappointed with how it has gone.”

In Kuala Lumpur, Howell’s opening round of four-over-par left with him an uphill struggle for his second round and he ended the tournament with a one-over 73.

However, things went from bad to worse at the Genzon Golf Club, as he fired a three-over-par 75 on the opening day and he followed that up with a five-over 77.

Howell, who is hoping to be back at Broome Manor this weekend for the David Howell Classic, will spend some time this week working on his game before returning to action on May 15 for the Spanish Open.

“It is hard to put my finger on why it went so badly,” he said. “I don’t feel like I’m doing anything different from last year, but obviously the scores are showing otherwise.

“I know that I haven’t been putting as well as I usually do, so that is something I need to put right.

“My coach is coming down at the end of the week and we will work on different aspects of my game and have a bit of debrief to see if we can work it out.”

Howell is hoping that his current slump in form is only temporary and he can get back to how he finished last season.

“I had a really good year last season,” he said. “But then I had a bit of a lull in May and June.

“So this is not unusual and I’m certainly not worried.

“Hopefully I can have a good week in Spain next month because after that it is the PGA Championships.

“Traditionally, I don’t do well at Wentworth so it would be nice to play well in Spain and hopefully that will give me a bit of momentum going into the PGA.

“It’s my home tournament and that is something that you always want to do well in.”