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BMW INTERNATIONAL OPEN


August 31, 2006


David Howell


MUNICH, GERMANY

Q. You must be delighted?

DAVID HOWELL: The last eagle I made to be honest with you, one of the purest shots I've hit in a long time and I managed to hole the putt as well, too. Turned what would look like a pretty average day, even though I was quite pleased with how I played, to turn it into 67 was quite pleasing.

Q. Did you feel things sort of falling into place?

DAVID HOWELL: As I say, I was just happy with how I was hitting the ball. I hit three bad tee shots, but with what I've been working on on the range this morning, you know, surprised at that, but I hit an awful lot of nice shots which I was pleased with.

You know, I had a 3 putt and I had a couple of other chances I hadn't taken. You know, I was a bit disappointed to be level, 1 under, and delighted to finish with 67.

Q. Time will tell, but does that finish in a sense have the potential to be a turning point?

DAVID HOWELL: Well, hopefully, yeah, I'm hitting the ball better, so obviously what I'm working on seems to be the right stuff. I just need to get my confidence back, and a 67 helps that.

Q. Has it been worrying?

DAVID HOWELL: Yeah, it's very difficult actually, I had sort of three years really where I have been pretty just had my game, a little injury along the way, and always come back well, and to have such a poor three months as I've had comes as a bit of a shock. You know, just wasn't expecting it really, and then you know, you try and keep fighting and hope things will turn around eventually. Hopefully today was the start of that.

Q. Does the stress of that sort of find itself being compounded, if you like, knowing that the Ryder Cup is just around the corner?

DAVID HOWELL: It's not the most comfortable position to be in, struggling as I have been with only two or three weeks away. But obviously I have to work as hard as anyone to try and turn things around, and obviously that started coming into the last one two years ago. I had a very positive experience and I wasn't playing well there and I managed to come away with a point and part of a very successful team.

And I also learned from that that you want to be very comfortable on the first tee. It's not a great arena to be in if your not comfortable with your game. Hopefully this is the first step on the road to being very comfortable when we get there in three weeks time.

Q. You mentioned quite a few times the amount work you've been doing; would it be fair to say you've been doing overtime in a sense to turn things around?

DAVID HOWELL: Well, I honestly don't want to get injured as well, so that stops me from hitting a Vijay sort of number of balls, a hundred is about my maximum. But I've been thinking about it a lot and putting a lot of mental effort to figure out what's going on.

You know, it's pretty stressful as times. The rankings show I'm a good player and you want to feel it around the course. And we're all fallible and we all need to be confident. If the ball is not going where you're expecting it to, it's very hard to be confident.

Q. Anything different in the practice regime at all of late?

DAVID HOWELL: We just worked out last week I had the clubface closed on the downswing, and it wasn't until last night that I managed to find a way of altering that. And that's what I worked on last night and this morning and, a bit of a restless night worrying about how it was going to work.

Managed to hit a few nice shots down the 10th hole, and by and large it worked very well. So I should rest easier tonight with a bit of luck.

Q. How do you view the next three days? Obviously the desire is for more of the same?

DAVID HOWELL: Well, the way I played today, there's no reason why I can't start to expect to play well over the next three days. It would be nice to challenge for the tournament again. That would be just ideal preparation for the big one coming up in two weeks' time. So that's my plan is to go out there and keep playing well and hopefully have a chance to win on Sunday. It's my first defence of a title in, oh, seven years, and I'd like to make a good test of it.

Q. Final thought. How much does the fact that you are defending champion here and good memories of this place, albeit a lot tougher this year as everyone has been saying help you?

DAVID HOWELL: It's very nice to come back. You always feel comfortable at a place you've won. But with my form over the last couple of days, my concern was not defending the title, and wondering when this game I love is going to come back to me.

But 2 , 3 under par with a couple holes to go, I sort of reminded myself that, hey, there's sort of a defence of title on the line, as well, and it's nice to be able to think in those terms and gave me a boost that I can start to think about the rest of the week.

End of FastScripts.
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