FOLLOWING a four week lay-off David Howell says he is looking forward to getting back into the swing of things at the Nordea Masters in Sweden.

The 43-year-old took some time off from European Tour action in an attempt to rest a niggling shoulder injury.

That appears to have worked, although Howell did admit to feeling some discomfort in his back ahead of the contest.

However, the two-time Ryder Cup winner refuses to label himself as ‘injured’ and says he feels ready to go once fully rejuvenated.

Howell was handed a slight inconvenience after his clubs failed to arrive from his flight to Sweden, meaning he couldn’t practice earlier in the week.

“The shoulder is good. It’s been a month off that I have had now but my back is not feeling brilliant,” he said.

“I wouldn’t say I am injured, but I’m not moving as freely as I would have liked but we will see how it goes in the next few weeks.

“I’ll be doing a few warm-ups and stuff like that to get the body moving. I’m actually quite tired because my life is so busy at home.

“I’ll get a good night of rest and some physio but apart from that, I don’t think I am going to struggle to play at all.

“We will see how it goes. My clubs didn’t turn up on Tuesday so I had a quiet day, so I had a good day of rest and I’ll feel a bit brighter.

“Energy levels are a bit low but I am looking forward to having a club and a scorecard in my hand.”

The Swindon star also admitted he didn’t practice too hard whilst having his break.

Although, because of his back problem, Howell has had to alter his swing but the 43-year-old says he has come up with a plan which should allow him to compete.

Should his plan come off, Howell is hoping to put a string of contests together starting this morning as he looks to return to for.

“In the three weeks I didn’t do much practice,” he said.

“I had a holiday and then I was working at The Open which was fantastic.

“Last week I did a reasonable amount, it wasn’t too much but I hit some balls most days.

“I’m trying to come up with a bit of a swing plan with my back so I’m looking forward to my clubs arriving.

“So far I have been hitting the ball quite nicely.

“I felt like after my last run of tournaments I wasn’t quite good enough.

“My swing seemed to point down a bit especially with the driver so that is something which is quite different.

“Hopefully I have sussed that out and we’ll go into the week with a fresh plan.

“I’m hopeful I’ve got something I can hang my hat on for the next few weeks.”

Howell tees off at 7.30am British time in Sweden alongside Denmark’s Jeff Winther and Austria’s Mattias Schwab.