DAVID Howell admits he is starting to seriously eye success on the European Tour after firing himself into contention for the Omega European Masters title.

The Broome Manor pro is six-under-par overall at Crans-sur-Sierre, Switzerland, following a one-under round of 70 yesterday, leaving him three shots off the lead held by Julien Quesne.

And after signing off his card at Crans Montana, Swindon’s Howell told the Adver that he is starting to see of victory on tour as a real possibility.

“I’m definitely starting to think that way, to win isn’t easy and you need to play consistently over a period of time to keep yourself in position,” he said.

”I was in touch of the lead with 36 holes to go last week at the Johnnie Walker Championship, and in Paris (in July) I had a chance with a round to go.

“Now I need to back that up and that’s what I’m going to try to keep doing, because if you keep giving yourself opportunities, eventually one will fall your way.

“A lot of golf is about winning, that makes a massive difference, although playing consistently is a close second.”

Howell revealed that the generally higher scores yesterday were due to a couple of factors, but believes he coped well in the circumstances.

“It was definitely more difficult out there, the pins and the weather in general were tougher than they were on Thursday,” he said.

“But it was pretty similar to how I played on Thursday so I’m in great shape. One-under was a decent round so I was happy with that.

“You always want to get off and running early and I started off with a nice birdie.

“I suppose the story of the round was when I played 10, 11 and 12 lovely but then chose the wrong club on the par three or got unlucky with the wind, and missed the par putt.

“Then I three-putted the par-five - I’ve had two sixes there over the first two days which is unbelievable because it’s such an easy hole.

“But I managed to birdie the next par five which steadied the ship a bit and pulled me back in.”