DAVID Howell is hoping to fare better than Swindon Town on the big stage when he tackles the Ryder Cup course at Celtic Manor in South Wales this weekend.

Howell, who was at Wembley last Saturday as Millwall beat an unconvincing Town 1-0 to reach the Championship, is confident of continuing the run of form which has seen him capture four top 20 finishes this year - a significant improvement on recent seasons.

“I was at Wembley thanks to the club, who gave me a great ticket and I was lucky enough to enjoy lunch with the powers that be,” he said.

“To be honest, I haven’t seen Swindon much in the last few years, except for the play-off games on Sky, but I thought they put in a bit of a lacklustre performance on such a big stage.

“It was a lovely day out in the end, apart from the result.”

The Broome Manor pro was able to attend the match after failing to make the cut at the Madrid Masters last time out, and lessons learned there and at Wentworth a week prior have been studiously analysed by the Howell camp in the lead up to the Welsh Open, which starts today.

Having reassessed the balance of his swing, which is bound to play an important role on the lengthy Celtic Manor course, the Swindon golfer says he is well prepared for the challenge.

“Celtic Manor is a big, modern golf course and the water hazards are very well-placed across it,” he said.

“I need to be in control of my game, and I haven’t seen that in myself sometimes recently.

“My weakness at the moment is my longer game, I haven't been anywhere in control as I need to be.”

However, with the former Ryder Cup star's shorter game offering fewer problems, Howell is determined to forget last week's missed cut and move on to better things across the Severn.

And he believes that, should he sort out the direction and accuracy of his driving, the rest should simply fall into place.

“Normally the greens are good and pretty easy to read, and hopefully I'll put my putts away," he said.

“I think I was putting pretty well in the last couple of weeks.

“I need to putt well as I don’t hit quite as many greens as some of the others on the tour, it's just not my style of play.

“In the last few weeks I’ve got away from my old style of putting, which is quite unique and recognisable, and that has helped me putt brilliantly."

Howell is as excited as most to be able to play competitively around this year's Ryder Cup course, and says the atmopshere on the tour is electric ahead of the event.

“It’s really adding to the buzz of the tournament, and although there are not many numbers from the teams playing (they are all competing in the Memorial Tournament across the Atlantic) it is still a fantastic thing to be involved with."

Howell tees off this morning at 8.45am with playing partners Anthony Wall and Robert Rock.