England's David Howell launched his 2006 European Tour season in perfect style with a superb three shot victory over World Number One and final round playing partner, Tiger Woods, at the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai. Howell carded a four under par 68 to post a formidable winning total of 20 under par of 268 at Sheshan International Golf Club.
It was a deeply satisfying feeling for the Swindon golfer, whose last experience of partnering the world’s leading player provided a valuable learning curve, as Woods shot 65 at Augusta National to Howell’s 76 on his way to capturing the Masters Tournament in April.
Seven months later, the 30 year old went into the final round in China holding a one stoke lead and succeeded in closing his ears to the chaos around him and his eyes to the impressively familiar Woods style.
In the heat of battle, Howell never wavered and his 68 to Woods’s 70 converted a one stroke overnight advantage into a three shot victory.
An understandably ecstatic Howell said: "This is something I dreamed of but probably didn't think was going to come true. You end up in the last group playing with the World's Number One and you know it's going to be a big day in your career.
"Obviously I am quite pleased with myself; the way I handled myself and was able to come out on top. It was a massive learning experience for me today and hopefully it can really help me in the future."
Woods admitted: "David got off to a wonderful start and I found myself four shots back. The big swing came on 12 when he completely mis-hit his tee shot and made a two. He's improved a lot but he has worked hard and that's what happens when you work hard.
"Still, some wonderfully positive things have happpened this week, even though that's the second Sunday in a row I've finished second. It sure doesn't feel as good as first."
Victory nudged Howell closer to the top 10 on the Official World Ranking in 13th position and established himself as a strong contender to retain his place in Europe’s Ryder Cup Team at The K Club next September. After the first official counting event of the new campaign, Howell lies fourth in the European Ryder Cup Points List with 1,083,521 behind Colin Montgomerie, Paul McGinley and Sergio Garcia.
He added: "It's wonderful to win. Obviously I want to get back into The Ryder Cup again. That's the main thing for the upcoming year. This is a giant leap towards achieving that. I am beginning to realise that I am pretty good at this game and it's taken a while to realise that."
Woods had to settle for second place in his first official tournament in China while England’s Nick Dougherty and Australian Nick O’Hern shared third on 274, 14 under par, after closing rounds of 69 and 73 respectively.
Woods began the day one shot behind his European friend and rival, whom he described the previous night as a ‘cool dude’.
That became two shots as Howell lived up to the first part of the epithet with a birdie at the second. A two shot swing at the fifth, where Woods missed a three foot par putt and watched Howell tap in for birdie, left the ten time Major winner four strokes adrift.
Howell's only wobble came at the eighth and ninth when he carded back to back bogeys, but it was a temporary blip.
Howell calmly sank a ten foot birdie putt on the par four tenth to forge three clear and, once Woods bogeyed the 16th, after trying to launch a three wood at the green on the par four, Howell's third European Tour victory was all but sealed.
Dougherty eagled the last for a round of 69 to maintain his upwardly mobile progress since re-dedicating himself to the game while Fiji's World Number Two Vijay Singh shot a 69 to tie for fifth at 13 under with Denmark's Thomas Björn, who carded a 70.
US Open champion Michael Campbell of New Zealand finished a further three strokes back in tenth place after a 73.
Howell, who had led the tournament since Friday's second round, ended a six year wait for a second European Tour title at the BMW International Open in August. However, his win at the HSBC Champions Tournament, which marked the start of the 2006 European Tour, was the biggest to date for the world number 19, earning him €704 516 (£475,899).
