DAVID Howell admitted he never fully recovered from a nightmare start to his second round as he missed the cut at the Qatar Masters yesterday.

The Broome Manor man, sitting one-over after the first set of 18 holes on Wednesday, carded a bogey and a double bogey in his first two holes and although he managed to sink five birdies in the remaining holes it wasn’t enough, as he ended the round only one-under.

With the cut mark at one-under for the tournament, Howell’s level-par score through 36 holes so him fall just one shot short, meaning he now has to sit out the remaining two rounds.

“I got off to shocker really which wasn’t what I wanted and I flobbed a chip on the 10th (Howell’s first hole after starting on the back nine) and from there a potential birdie became a bogey which put my right up against it. I then got the double (bogey) on the 11th which left me too much to do,” he said.

“I battled from there and made some good shots but it wasn’t enough for me. It wasn’t a disastrous performance because it’s easy to miss the cut by one, especially in a strong field like this.

“Although I battled to the end I never really looked as if I was in it and it was almost like being 4-1 down in football and scoring two late goals because I needed two birdies at the end to make it look respectable.”

Howell now returns to his home in Dubai to be with his partner Emily and newborn identical twins Charles and Samuel, as well as eldest son Freddie, with some rare time with his family the only consolation for missing the cut.

“I head home now to Dubai but I did do a little bit of chipping with my coach after the round which can hopefully help me next time,” he said.

“I’ll try and forget about golf now for a few days which should be nice because there’s a lot going on outside the game and enjoy my sons’ company now.”

Rafa Cabrera-Bello leads the Qatar Masters on 13-under, two-points clear of George Coetzee.

Howell returns to action next week at the Dubai Desert Classic where he will be looking for a repeat of his impressive victory at the event in 1999.