Howard turns form book upside down at Haverhill

Brampton Park Golf Club’s George Howard turned his fortunes around in style to make the final of the Galvin Green PGA Assistants’ Championship.

The 22-year-old finished joint top of the leaderboard in the East qualifying event held at Haverhill Golf Club.

Howard came second from last 12 months ago with a score of 14-over-par.

But now he has line up his first final after carding a one-over-par round of 71 in difficult conditions at the Suffolk course.

Howard was joined on the same score by James Webber, of Essex’s Three Rivers Golf & Country Club.

They finished two shots ahead of five players who went round in 73.

In all, 19 qualifiers will head for the £32,500 grand final to be held at Coventry Golf Club on August 5-7.

Howard, who has just completed his PGA training, admitted his newly-found form got him through.

“It’s quite a contrast from last year when I think I was around 80th, second from bottom!” recalled 22-year-old Howard.

“I’ve just finished my final exams so it was a good way to celebrate.

“I’m focusing on my game now and looking forward to Coventry. It’s not a course I’ve played before but I intend getting over there for a practice round.”

The Cambridgeshire-based player admitted his route to the final was far from easy.

“It was windy and we got a lot of rain around mid-day, that made the rough even more difficult, it was really thick,” said Howard, who qualified for the Faldo series world final in Brazil six years ago. 

“If you got in among the trees it was also tough.

“That meant the scores were high, people were going to get into trouble.

“I thought someone might go under par on the day, but I always felt quite comfortable at one-over-par.

“I knew this was a tough course though because four-over-par was enough to qualify last year.

“In the end my score was good enough and I was pleased to improve on 12 months ago.”