DAVID Howell will head into the festive break without a made cut on the European Tour in the 2020 season following a difficult second round at the Australian PGA Championship on Friday.

Howell shot a three-over round of 75 for the second day in a row to finish on six-over after two rounds.

That was well down the leaderboard in a tie for 116th place and left the Broome Manor man five shots clear of the cutline at one-over.

It means Howell heads home early from his third tournament in a row in the 2020 season, having also missed the cut at the Alfred Dunhill Championships in South Africa and the Mauritius Open.

China’s Yechun Carl Yuan leads the way at the halfway stage at RACV Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast after a superb seven-under second round of 65 to reach nine-under overall.

Starting the day at three-over, Howell had already dropped further off the pace just two holes into his second round as he posted an early bogey.

Three pars in a row followed before that earlier dropped shot was reclaimed at the sixth hole as the 44-year-old recorded birdie.

Another run of three pars followed to see Howell reach the turn at level par for the day and three-over overall.

There was more par golf after the turn for home as each of the first five holes on the back nine were recorded in a level score, taking that run to eight holes in a row in total.

That steady scoring sequence was ended by a second birdie of the day at number 15.

That failed to ignite a grandstand finish to the round, though, as Howell actually went in the opposite direction as four shots were dropped over the next two holes after back-to-back double-bogeys.

A final par rounded off the day and meant Howell signed for a three-over second round to reach six-over overall and miss the cut by some distance.

The 2020 European Tour resumes in the new year at the South African Open on January 9.