DAVID Howell reckons the ‘golfing gods’ just weren’t smiling on him as his Omega Masters campaign frustratingly fizzled out.

The Swindon ace notched up his best result of the season late last month as he finished second at the Italian Open but Howell found that success too difficult to replicate in Switzerland as he ended up tied 47th at Crans-sur-Sierre.

Howell, who shot two under par on his final round on Sunday, began his week in show-stopping fashion, hitting five under in his opening nine holes, but the Broome Manor pro was unable to build on that early success.

“It was a lot different to last week (in Italy), where it was a supreme putting performance – the golfing gods don’t let you do that too often,” said Howell.

“I lost count of the amount of times that a putt just shaved the hole and if they’d gone in, it could have been a lot different.

“Unfortunately, I dropped too many shots around the greens. Things started really well but in the end, I bumbled around a tricky course pretty averagely.”

The Swindon player’s next focus will be the KLM Open in the Netherlands, which gets underway at Kennemer on Thursday.

Howell added: “My confidence has been buoyed by the last few weeks so I’m looking forward to it. I like the course in the Netherlands - it’s a good links course.”