DAVID Howell has welcomed the reintroduction of the British Masters to the European Tour calendar.

The Masters, which was last played seven years ago, makes its return in October at Woburn.

And the Swindon star, who finished second in the British Masters at the same venue in 2001, is glad to see it back.

“It is great news,” said Howell, who will be looking to go one better at the Africa Open following a tied second placed finish at the Joburg Open last weekend which secured his qualification to the Open at St Andrews in July.

“We were aware that the British Masters was coming back on to the calendar and it is great that we have got another British tournament.

“Woburn is a lovely course and I’m looking forward to getting back there. I last played there in 2004, it was a Ryder Cup year, and I remember losing in a play-off.

“It has been about seven years since the British Masters was last played, it was a nice title to win – it was always one of the stronger ones on the calendar.

“We played at some great venues and the British crowds always come out and support us.”

With a new tournament to look forward to in the autumn, the Broome Manor pro says that he has garnered plenty of confidence to take into this morning’s tee off at the East London Golf Course in Eastern Cape.

Going off the ninth tee at 7.20am, Howell is hoping that there will be a calming in the wind.

“The wind has been blowing pretty bad so I haven’t been able to get out and do much,” he said. “I have worked a little on my chipping and putting.

“I’m up nice and early in the morning so hopefully the conditions will be a little calmer.

“I’m sure it won’t be as bad as it has been later in the day, although the wind is expected to switch direction which will make it interesting.

“We are going off the ninth instead of the 10th simply because it is closer to the clubhouse.

“It was a good week (last week) which I was able to take a lot of positives out of.

“Probably a bad swing on the Saturday and another one on the Sunday cost me the tournament, but I felt like everything went well.

“I can take a lot into this week and go into the tournament full of confidence.”