DAVID Howell might wish he could eliminate the rather large aberration that was the first 11 holes of his round at The Royal Golf Club in Bahrain yesterday.

Beginning his second round at level par, the Swindon star dropped five shots in the opening 11 as he missed the cut by three shots at the Volvo Golf Champions event.

After bogeying the second, Howell pulled back to level par at the next hole but bogeys at the seventh and eighth made the front nine less than a success.

And a catastrophic effort at the 11th saw Howell triple bogey the 353-yard par four hole.

The Broome Manor pro bounced back quickly from the disappointment in impressive style, picking up a shot at each of the next three holes.

And three pars followed by a birdie at the 18th saw him finish strongly, but the damage had already been done earlier in the round.

Edoardo Moilnari, Raphael Jacquelin, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Peter Hanson currently hold a four-way tie for the lead on 11-under-par.