AN under-par second round was unable to rescue David Howell and help him make the cut as he made an early exit from the KLM Open in the Netherlands.

Swindon star Howell shot a one-under 71 on Friday but the damage had been done by an opening five-over 77 as he finished on four-over.

That left the 44-year-old outside the top 130 on the leaderboard and well short of the projected cutline at two-under.

Teeing off at the 10th hole in his second round in Amsterdam, Howell got off to the worst possible start with an opening bogey.

He rectified that with back-to-back birdies immediately afterwards before another bogey followed on the 16th hole – Howell’s seventh.

The Broome Manor man was able to get to the turn under-par for the day as he birdied the last hole before the turn before then picking up another shot two holes later.

However, that was as good as it got for Howell and there was actually more disappointment before the finish.

The two-time Ryder Cup winner closed out his round with a bogey at the final hole to sign for a one-under 71 and only back up to four-over overall.