DAVID Howell will be looking for a better display at the Italian Open today.

The Swindon ace carded a one-over par 73 in Torino yesterday and he knows that he will need to improve on that score if he is to make the cut.

The Broome Manor pro began his round at the Circolo Golf Torino in good form teeing off from hole number 10.

Birdies from two of his three opening holes gave the 39-year-old the start that he had been looking for.

However, bogeys on 16 and 17 saw end his first nine holes level par.

“The worst of it come on the first tee - the easiest hole of the course,” Howell told the Advertiser. “It is an easy par five a good chance to pick up a shot or shot.

“But my tee shot went wrong and the rough here is very unforgiving.”

Howell did manage to pull a shot back on the eighth with a birdie two, but that was as good as it got.

“This is not the longest of courses, it is very straight, but like I said if you find the rough you are in trouble - it is brutal and the risk of losing a ball in their is high.

“I felt I did OK out there, but I wasn’t swinging the club as well as I have been.

“But my coach is here this week and after my round we went back out on to the range and worked on a couple of things.

“The improvements that we have made over the last few months are still very much a work in progress.”