DAVID Howell was frustrated by his second round at the Open de France despite making the cut.

The Swindon golf ace was one-over par for his round and is now two-over par for the tournament at Le Golf Nationale.

Starting on the course’s back nine Howell made serene progress, carding no bogeys and picking up two birdies at 14 and 18.

Through those first nine holes Howell was looking healthy on the leaderboard at one-under for the tournament, a score that would have seen him tied for 11th place at the end of the day. However it was then to unravel on the first four holes of the front nine.

The Broome Manor pro found the water at two resulting in a double bogey, he then dropped shots at three and four.

A birdie at six meant the 38-year-old fell safely within the cut and left Howell in a reflective mood.

“I’m a bit frustrated really, I was two-under through back nine, which is arguably the tougher of the two nines,” Howell told the Advertiser.

“I had a great chance on the first, then found water on the second - there’s so much trouble out on the course - that was the double bogey. It was a strange shot, I thought I’d hit it well but it caught the wind.

“It was a tough half an hour for me. It was a bit of a shame as things were going nicely before then. After that run I had to baton down the hatches to make the cut and I did that.”

Tough patches in a round are something all golfers deal with and Howell explained how he used the know-how of playing 500 tournaments to mentally steel himself after dropping four shots in three holes.

“I have plenty of experience but it never gets easier. You just have to keep playing each hole, one hole at a time, when things go well it doesn’t mean things can’t go badly and when things go badly there’s no reason it can’t turn around.

“It isn’t easy, it was an awkward time in the round to have bad run, instead of looking up at the leaderboard you’re looking like going home.

“Anything under par by the end of the week and you’re not doing too badly. All in all made I the cut and gave myself a chance to do something if I pick up a couple of shots early, it could be a good week still.”

Howell tees off tomorrow at 8.35am with fellow Englis- hman Paul Waring.