DAVID Howell says he is still taking his return one step at a time as the Swindon golfer prepares to participate in the Open de Espana today.

The two-time Ryder Cup winner has made a solid, if unspectacular start to his 22nd European Tour season as he continues to recover from numerous injury problems.

Over the last two years Howell has been hampered with foot, wrist and back problems, which has led to a dip in form.

However, this year, there have been green shoots of recovery after making back-to-back cuts for the first time in three years whilst at the Qatar Masters and Tshwane Open.

The 42-year-old admits there are positives to take from some of his recent performances but acknowledges there is still a lot to do.

“I made a couple of cuts, which was a start. Then I had a disappointing performance in India and now I have had four weeks to stew on that performance,” he said.

“I’ll take the positives out of it. My body held up and I got back-to-back cuts for the first time in quite some time.

“All in all, my game was pretty good. I’m taking the confidence from that for the next two weeks and hopefully I can put another brick in the wall.

“I’m rebuilding my confidence and trying to get the momentum moving in my direction again. It’s a case of doing things one step at a time.”

Due to his schedule, Howell hasn’t been out on the course in over a month, but says he is looking forward to getting back out there in Madrid.

“Other than being a little bit tired, I feel okay and I’m looking forward to actually playing," he said.

“The practice I have been doing has been nice and simple. I feel strangely under-golfed at this time of year, but that is okay because there is plenty of golf coming up.

“The weather isn’t going to be great over the next few days, so I won’t be slapping sun screen on that’s for sure.”

Howell had an early start this morning as he got his first round under way at 8.20am in Madrid, playing alongside fellow Englishmen James Heath and Ryan Evans at the Centro Nacional de Golf.