THE health of one Englishman may be causing a nation of football followers to hold its breath, but the health of another is beyond concern. David Howell has an injury to the base of his spine that has limited his practice and caused him to alter his posture at the address position, but he ran away with the BMW Championships. Ran may not be the most appropriate verb, though, for a man who has difficulty putting his socks on each morning and taking them off again at night.

Howell went into the final round at Wentworth three shots ahead and confident that he would win his fourth event on the European Tour and his second in six months. “Very rarely do I have a bad day in such situations,” Howell, 30, had said on Saturday night, risking revenge from the golfing gods. But they smiled on him yesterday.

He had extended his lead to four strokes after the second hole of the fourth round. It was five strokes after five holes, six after six and seven after nine holes. He finished five strokes ahead of Simon Khan, whose round of 68 enabled him to snatch second place from Miguel Ángel Jiménez. The Spaniard had been second overnight.

Winning golfers often get into a cocoon of such concentration that they see or hear little of what is going on around them. So it was for Howell on this warm and dry summer’s day, the first of the tournament, on this most English of courses.

For example, he played a deft chip on the 7th even as a marshal was imploring the spectators to keep quiet. He never looked anything other than in complete control, even when he dropped a stroke after his only bad shot of the day on the 10th, missed the green with his second to the 16th and drove into the right rough on the 17th.

His 69 was his fourth round in the sixties and took him to 17 under par. His victory made his Ryder Cup place certain, gave him nearly twice as much money as the second-placed player in the Order of Merit, Paul Casey, and moved him to tenth in the world rankings.

“I am overwhelmed,” Howell said. “Slowly but surely I have to start thinking of myself as a world player. The rankings don’t lie, so I had better start believing in them.”

Howell’s stance, which has never looked the most fluent, now involves him putting his feet together and bending his knees, ensuring presumably that his upper body and head are at the correct height. Having done this, he separates his legs and with a flex of his knees here and a twitch there begins the swing that stood him in such good stead through the week.

The measure of Howell’s play is that this was a course that was lengthened by 300 yards and had 30 bunkers more than last year. Even allowing for the benefit of preferred lies for all four rounds, Howell played very well, exceptionally well, perhaps. Very few others found it so straightforward on a course that has the ability to bite a player in the ankles. Els ran up a seven on the 17th and Nick Dougherty a six on the 15th and a seven on the 17th, while Jean Van de Velde’s 79 yesterday was 13 strokes more than his third round. Only two men played the fourth round without a bogey.

Ian Poulter has apologised to George O’Grady, the executive director of the European Tour, for swearing at a volunteer during last week’s Irish Open. Poulter decided that he needed to be fined for his outburst and nominated the amount, which is believed to be £5,000. “Ian knew he had stepped out of line. He suggested a pretty big figure and I said ‘that sounds good enough to me’,” O’Grady said. What next? A player going to O’Grady and saying he deserves to be rewarded for his good behaviour? Howell certainly deserved it last week.

FINAL SCORES

Great Britain and Ireland unless stated
271: D Howell 68, 65, 69, 69. 276: S Khan 70, 68, 70, 68. 277: M Á Jiménez (Sp) 71, 69, 65, 72. 279: B Rumford (Aus) 72, 73, 69, 65. 280: R Bland 73, 68, 71, 68. 281: T Immelman (SA) 70, 73, 73, 65; A Wall 71, 71, 73, 66; G Orr 71, 70, 73, 67; A Coltart 71, 72, 69, 69; P Harrington 72, 70, 68, 71. 282: G Houston 69, 72, 71, 70; S Hansen (Den) 70, 72, 69, 71; P Casey 67, 72, 69, 74. 283: J M Olazábal (Sp) 69, 74, 72, 68; R Green (Aus) 70, 71, 72, 70; M Lafeber (Neth) 71, 71, 71, 70; J-F Lucquin (Fr) 76, 70, 67, 70; R Karlsson (Swe) 69, 68, 74, 72. 284: R Jacquelin (Fr) 68, 72, 75, 69; S Webster 71, 70, 74, 69; E Canonica (It) 72, 71, 72, 69; R Goosen (SA) 70, 71, 73, 70; H Stenson (Swe) 73, 73, 68, 70; E Els (SA) 69, 74, 69, 72.