Howell misses Qatar cut
6:00am Monday 6th February 2012 in Sport
A LATE rally was not enough to see David Howell make the cut at the Qatar Masters at the weekend.
The Broome Manor star had only completed one round going into the weekend, as play was suspended on Friday due to 45mph winds.
That was a state of affairs that did not play into Howell’s hands, as it gave him little time to recover his scorecard following a disappointing four-over-par effort on the opening day.
However, the ex-Ryder Cup star, who finished fifth in Qatar last year, had a good crack at making Sunday after an early wobble.
The first two holes saw Howell drop two shots and included a six at the par-five first hole.
But the Swindonian steadied the ship for the remainder of the front nine, and managed to get a shot back with a birdie at the par-four 11th.
The back nine saw Howell play his best golf of the week.
He picked up a stroke at the 11th and was consistent thereafter as he knocked in four pars in a row.
Howell then made a late surge towards the cut line, but was ultimately to be denied.
He first birdied the 16th and popped in another birdie on the par-five 18th, but missed the cut by a single shot on two-over-par.
Despite that disappointment, Howell can at least take consolation from the fact that his second round was a six-shot improvement on the first.
The three-round tournament was won by Scotland’s Paul Lawrie at a canter. The 43-year-old took victory by four shots after ending the tournament on 15-under-par.
In joint second were Australia’s Jason Day and Sweden’s Peter Hanson, while John Daly of the United States was fourth.
