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DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP

September 28, 2005

David Howell

ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND

SCOTT CROCKETT: David, thanks for coming in. Looking back at your record, a third, a fifth and a sixth here, you have a very good record here. Is this the year that it's a first, as well?

DAVID HOWELL: It would be nice. I always enjoy coming here. My record is great and I'm always confident that I'm going to put some decent numbers on the board. And obviously I'm coming in with great form this year, possibly about as confident as I've ever been, so I'll probably play crap!

SCOTT CROCKETT: Just reflect on last week, Seve Trophy.

DAVID HOWELL: A fun week last week. I only played really well twice to be honest, the first day that we lost and the last day. In between I was not in top form, but Paul played very nicely. My bad golf is better than it used to be and I didn't do anything too disastrous and didn't hurt our team too much, but it's not like I played fantastic.

Q. Is the Seve Trophy a useful format in non Ryder Cup years?

DAVID HOWELL: Definitely, it's certainly helped me over the years and played a lot of match play golf. And team golf is a once in a year opportunity, so it is important. I think it's got it's place. You can see, I've played three of those matches now, and I can remember what it was like when I played in the first one. And you could see the guys playing for the first time just what it meant to be representing their country. It's great to be part of it and it's great to see. I think it definitely needs to continue and hopefully just gets bigger and better.

Q. Can you comment on Chris DiMarco's comments, what were your experiences of the Ryder Cup. Did you feel hatred?

DAVID HOWELL: Not at all, completely different. I didn't see Chris DiMarco's comments but I've sort of heard in the grapevine that the word "hatred" was mentioned which is slightly surprising.

Chris is as competitive as anyone, I've only played with him once, but he gets right stuck in there, so he's not one to if you're going to play against him, it's not going to seem like the friendliest match, even though Chris is a nice guy, I don't mean that derogatory at all, but he has a fiery spirit which is what the Ryder Cup is all about. You can see when he played his first match, I think it was in the afternoon on the Friday last year, he really got the crowd going and pumping his fist which is just the way he plays. Slightly surprising that he used those words.

Maybe the Presidents Cup is less competitive or certainly less pressure it would appear, they don't seem to be as nervous, which would maybe make it a more pleasurable week to take part in. The Ryder Cup is a double edged sword; it's fantastic, but also not it's not all a nice experience because it's so pressurized. I think you come away feeling you feel it at the end of the week. So I guess the Presidents Cup is probably just more enjoyable for that reason. But then it's not the Ryder Cup, is it? So it has not got the feeling of being so the Presidents Cup doesn't have the feeling of being so competitive.

Q. Paul Casey was given a lot of stick for using the word hatred, but DiMarco seesm to have gotten off lightly?

DAVID HOWELL: No. It's up to you guys to make a deal about it I guess. The players are not going to make a big thing. I didn't make a big thing about Paul saying what he said and I'm not going to make a big thing about Chris saying anything. It's irrelevant to me, really.

I'm sure Paul will think it was an unfortunate word to use, I'm sure Chris if you asked him maybe he's say that was an unfortunate word to use as well. So I don't think there's any difference in the two cases other than Chris's comments haven't been picked up as much as Paul's were.

Q. Are you surprised your game is in form having lost six weeks?

DAVID HOWELL: I was concerned. The last time my career was headed in the right direction and had an injury, it was the worst year of my life afterwards and I was concerned the same thing was going to happen. Maybe it's a different injury or I've done the right things and I've got over it better and been a blessing in disguise. For whatever reason, had I not been injured, I think I'd be 19th in the world right now and I believe that's where I am pretty much.

Q. Do you have a target between now and the end of the season?

DAVID HOWELL: Well, I wanted to be in the top 35 at the end of the year at the start of the year, so I haven't changed my goals yet. I just keep working hard and I'll reach that goal sort of for next year when next year comes around. I'm not changing my goals at the moment.

Hopefully I can keep going up obviously. I just enjoy the fact that I've surpassed my goals for this year. I guess to make a dent in the Ryder Cup is now my main goal, winning tournaments, but to make the team. I think I have five tournaments until the end of my season and I'd like to think that I have a big chance at Ryder Cup points whether that be on the World Ranking side or the Order of Merit side.

Q. Why the top 35?

DAVID HOWELL: I was at 34. I knew I was going to play a lot more in America this year, it looked like it the 25, 30 of the biggest tournaments in the world for the first time. I thought a period of consolidation I would have been more than happy with to be honest. Safe to say that I have consolidated.

Q. How do you think high handicappers will feel about playing here?

DAVID HOWELL: The weather being bad or just in terms of playing? They will be picking up a lot, I guess. If it's this windy, it will be very difficult. I guess it's no different, the weather, the scores are going to be higher. It's links golf, isn't it. So whether it being windy makes it more nerve wracking for them, I don't think it would, I think they are nervous enough anyway. Maybe it would not make much difference.

Q. The top three in the Order of Merit are not here, do you think you might have a chance to catch up?

DAVID HOWELL: No, I didn't realize that. I haven't thought about it to be honest with you. I'm a ways away from Michael now obviously. We're all aware there are a few tournaments left, and if I can win one, then maybe I can take a big chunk out of his lead.

So I'm not overly focused on that but if I win one this week, it may come back into my mind. I've pushed and pushed enough lately. I'm just happy to take what comes from now on, really, to be honest.

Q. Did you say five big tournaments left?

DAVID HOWELL: This, the AMEX, Volvo Masters, HSBC and China, and then, well, the World Cup, and then I'm going to play in Hong Kong I think, so six events.

SCOTT CROCKETT: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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