Howell rides 'strange confidence' up the leaderboard

David Howell hasn't played too well so far this year, yet he ended the first round just a shot off the lead. His plan is simple: Manage his game, try to stay away from big trouble and, mostly, just believe in himself out on the course. 

By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.com Correspondent

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- His townhouse is being furnished this week via text message.

The four-story building in Virginia Water, England, was once part of a Victorian asylum for, as they say across the pond, rich nutters. And only a few weeks ago, the main floor had one chair, four bananas, two cans of beans and, of course, tea. To offer to his guest. Who did, indeed, get to sit in the chair.

David Howell simply hasn't been home to take care of all those little things that make his new place a home. If he wasn't coming or going from Shanghai or Dubai, he was headed to the States to tee it up. In long enough to do the laundry and repack.

That he hasn't played that well this year is an understatement. He came into this Masters with a bunch of thirtysomething finishes and without much confidence. But the 31-year-old Ryder Cupper -- or you might remember him, too, as the man who beat Tiger Woods in China in 2005 -- emerged from Thursday's opening round just a shot off the lead.

"We wish for dry, firm, fast conditions," he smiled. "So, you know, be careful what you wish for."

On a day when par hovered somewhere around 76, Howell opened this third Masters with a 2-under-par 70 that left him one shot behind co-leaders Justin Rose and Brett Wetterich.

"Obviously, I was delighted with it," he said. "A little nervy on the first tee wondering how the day was going to go. And you know, I basically went out there to try to manage my game as well as I can and not make any major errors and blow myself out of the tournament."

That helped straight away when he double-bogeyed the fourth hole with "a stupid three-putt and a bad error off the tee." Still, he knew it was going to be a tough day, period.

"If you finish the day 2 over, it would be a reasonable round of golf," he said.

Instead, he came back with back-to-back birdies at the seventh and eighth -- from 3 and 2 feet, respectively -- and saved par at the ninth.

"I hit a poor drive to the right, just squirted one under the trees and had a tricky chip to about four or five feet above the hole, which is not where you want to be on 8," he said. "That was a typical Augusta knee-knocker of a putt, but I managed to roll that one in."

He added a birdie at the 10th, saved par again -- this time with a two-putt from down the valley at the 13th. "Leaving myself in trouble," he said, "was not very clever."

Neither was the bogey at 14, but he bounced right back with a 3-iron from 215 yards to set up an eagle at 16.

"I was a bit steery off the tee all day, really, and I sort of let one go there," he said of the drive that left him 215 to the hole. He went in with a 3-iron, which his caddie thought was barely enough. He was right. It hit one foot short of the green and nearly rolled in.

Howell's caddie, Nick Mumford, wasn't sold on the 3-iron, but didn't argue. "He said, I sounded strangely confident for some reason, so he let me go with it," Howell said.

Perhaps it's a week for strange confidence. In 2005, Howell wasn't playing that well when he took out Tiger and earned the nickname "Cool Dude." And, while he hasn't contended down the stretch here, he did finish T-11 in 2005 and T-19 in 2006.

Although they have a stranglehold on the Ryder Cup, it's been eight years since the Europeans have won a major -- Paul Lawrie at Carnoustie in 1999. Padraig Harrington said all it would take is one European winner to trigger a run of majors. Howell disagreed.

"I don't think it's quite that easy," he said. "There's a reason we haven't won one. It's very difficult to do."

Earlier this year, when asked if he could win a major, he said, "Why not?" He added that he simply hasn't put himself in proper contention often enough. His only other top 20 finish was a 16th at last year's U.S. Open.

But now, things are coming together. The house has more than a chair, and Howell turned his strange confidence into a chance here at Augusta.

"I'm going to be teeing off in a major one shot off the lead in the morning," he said. "That's something you can't buy; you can only earn that, put yourself in those situations. Lucky enough here at the Masters more than any other major, I seem to be gaining experience.

"So, long may it continue. And we can hopefully gain some experience from being in the hunt on Sunday. That's obviously the plan."