DAVID Howell made it to the first tee of the British Masters in Hertfordshire this morning but found it tough going as he carded an opening-round 73 at The Grove.

The two-time Ryder Cup star had left a decision on his participation in the event until the last moment, having been troubled by inflammation in his left wrist which had forced him to pull out of last week's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland after just nine holes of his opening round.

But the 41 year old eventually teed up alongside Sweden’s Pelle Edberg and English amateur Scott Gregory from the 10th hole as, ironically, the tournament was hit by a spate of withdrawals elsewhere in the field, with Masters champion Danny Willett, former European Ryder Cup player Thomas Bjorn and England's Simon Dyson and Seve Benson among those to drop out on day one.

Howell struggled on his front nine, dropping shots at the 12th, 16th and par five 18th to reach the turn in 39 strokes.

His solitary highlight of the opening day came at the second - his 11th - as he posted a birdie and then parred home.

Lee Westwood enjoyed a welcome upturn in fortunes to lie just a shot off the early clubhouse lead.

Westwood feels he let down good friend and Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke after failing to win any of his three matches as Europe suffered their heaviest defeat for 35 years at Hazeltine.

And the former world number one followed that disappointing performance by missing the cut in last week's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, thanks largely to a second round of 82 at Kingsbarns.

However, Westwood was back to something approaching his best, carding six birdies and two bogeys in a first round of 67 which left him a shot behind Scotland's Marc Warren and Finland's Mikko Ilonen.

"I'm really pleased, it's the best I've played in quite a while," said Westwood, who will succeed Luke Donald as tournament host next year, with Close House in Northumberland expected to be announced as the venue shortly.

"My driving has not been great but I drove it really well today and gave myself a lot of chances. I've been working on a couple of things on the swings, looking at old videos when I was getting in good positions.

"Probably the only poor shot I hit was on the seventh, when Billy (Foster, his caddie) told me left of the green wasn't good and I managed to hit it there anyway."

Warren's only dropped shot of the day came on the ninth, his final hole, after four birdies and an eagle on the par-five second when his five-wood approach from 235 yards finished just six inches short of the pin.