DAVID Howell was pleased to have secured his best result of the year to date in front of a home crowd at the BMW PGA Championship.

Broome Manor pro Howell shot two under par on the final day of the tournament today as he made the most of the best conditions of the week.

An overall score of one over par gave the 41-year-old a top 50 finish and while he admits there are still areas to work on, two cuts in his last three outings has given him reason to be optimistic.

“It’s going to be my best finish of the calendar year and it’s our biggest tournament so it’s got to be a good week,” he said.

“I was far from brilliant but I did certain things well. I putted great and hung in really well and I got the most out of my week, by in large, which is the most you could ever ask for.

“You hope to play a bit better than that but that was all I brought to the test this week.

“It wasn’t good enough, in terms of tee-to-green golf, but the rest was really strong.

“I have to come away happy with my performance.”

Howell did well to drop just a single shot at the par-five fourth as he reloaded from the tee before dropping further back with a bogey at five.

However, a birdie at seven saw him go out in 36 before a fine back nine saw him birdie the par-three 14 before picking up another shot on 15.

Howell finished off with a birdie on 18 to finish the day two under par but there will be no rest as he heads to Walton Heath tomorrow for US Open qualifying.

“There is absolutely no let up and then I have got to travel over to Sweden on Wednesday,” he added.

“It’s a busy time of year.

“I take a little bit more momentum into that and take the positives from this week.

“As always, there is plenty of room for improvement and I have got to find that improvement, that’s the difficult thing.

“My course management and golfing skill was really on form this week, I managed to get the ball around well and if I can just start hitting the ball a fraction better, like I did the last few holes, then the scores will come as well.”