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By Charles Howell III
Special to PGATOUR.com

Editor's note: Charles Howell III has already won the Nissan Open and posted two runner-up finishes this year in just eight starts. He's three strokes off the lead at the midway point of his ninth -- the World Golf Championships-CA Championship -- but Howell still managed to find time to write his second blog for PGATOUR.com.

DORAL, Fla. -- It's been nice to be in the hunt to win some golf tournaments. That's what it's all about. It's a whole lot more fun playing, having a chance and getting near the lead, than it is either trying to make a cut or have a nice finish or whatnot. I had a nice weekend in Tampa at the PODS Championship, which was good. I played the weekend 9 under with no bogeys which was important for me just to get that level of consistency back again. I didn't do quite as well at Bay Hill, though. I hit the ball okay, but I struggled reading the greens there, which, being that the golf course is about a mile from my house, I would have hoped to have done a little better job there. I think the world of Mr. Palmer, obviously, and it's an event I want badly to play well in. Not to mention, it's sort of my second hometown, if you will. Hopefully next year I can do a little better than I did this year.

Charles Howell the third has enjoyed being in the hunt often this season. (Condon/PGA TOUR/WireImage)

It was really nice being actually qualified for the CA Championship. At the beginning of the year, we talked about how much I wanted to get into the Masters, and if you look how the qualification works, if you're not in this golf tournament here, you really won't get into the Masters. So this tournament was an important step to get into the Masters. I haven't been here at Doral actually, since 2002 -- just because of where it fits in the schedule. So it's kind of nice to be back here, especially now for a World Golf Championships event. Hopefully I can go out and have a nice weekend.

I think there is definitely a different feel when it is a World Golf Championships event. It is a smaller field, but it's a darned tough field. Top to bottom, it's arguably the strongest field of the year. These events are great to play. You know that if you do well in these events, you've done well against some really tough competition. So with the Masters starting to pop up in people's minds, guys are playing hard and working hard. To do well in an event like this, it means a little something extra knowing that the Masters is around the corner.

I'm really looking forward to the Masters. I'm from Augusta, so it means a lot to me, but it's the Masters for everybody. I mean, every kid in the world dreams of playing in that golf tournament and winning it. So I'm in no exclusive club there. It's tough not to think about it now that it's so close. You start thinking about what kind of shots you've got to hit there so you can start working on them. You start thinking about the short game stuff. So, yes, the Masters is surely in the back of my mind. I'm sure there's quite a few others, as well.

The first time I played Augusta National I was 10. I had been playing golf three years at the time. We played from the members tees and I shot 79. I appreciated it because I knew it was Augusta National. I knew about the Masters. I had just seen Larry Mize, who is also from Augusta, win the Masters when I was 7. So I was very well aware of where I was. As far as the difficulty of the golf course and that sort of thing, you know, I probably didn't quite have as much of an appreciation for that then. But yeah, it's been, what, 17 years ago and I still remember it. Any time you get to play, that place is special.

The fact that I wasn't in the field at the beginning of the year -- you know, frankly put, that was one hell of a motivator. It's a brutal event. It's not enjoyable once you're playing: it is work. The golf course is way too hard for it to be enjoyable. But at the same time, it's something that you don't want to miss. You know, you'll have a hard time winning that Green Jacket if you're at home. So it was a big motivator for me to play well and to play well early. Starting the year 86th in the world rankings, it wasn't easy to even get back into it. I think the more I thought about what I had to accomplish, the harder it got, so I just quit looking at it really. Now that it's almost here, I feel great.

I'm feeling good about how things are going. David [Leadbetter] and I, we've still got a ways to go, but we're on the right track and I think that's the important thing. I don't think anybody in golf minds working as long as they know that they are working on the right thing and that they are on the right track. It's when you don't feel like you're on the right track that it gets difficult. So seeing some results definitely eases my mind. I'm getting closer to feeling like I can contend every time I tee it up. At the end of the day, you measure the great players, and they are consistently up on the leaderboard. I'm getting there. A weekend like I had in Tampa was important for me to see -- to make the cut on the number and finish seventh. I'm definitely improving, going the right direction. It's just a matter of continuing to sharpen things up a little bit, especially around the greens with the short game. But it's definitely a complete rebalance from say a year ago.

Someone asked me what it felt like to win again, and I had to tell them it was more a relief than anything. I guess you could think about it either way -- either really happy or really relieved. I was probably more relieved than I was happy. I finished second a lot to get near there, but to win, I know it's only one more spot, but it was a massive relief just to get that behind me. I don't think you can finish second enough times to get the feeling of a win. To win at Riviera against that field was really something. I would have never thought that Phil would have ever bogeyed the 72nd hole to let us go into a playoff. And with that being said, when you go to a playoff, you never know what's going to happen. Phil is a great player and a great talent, someone I've looked up to for a long time. In fact, I've looked at tons of his short game videos to work on my own game. So playing against a guy like Phil in a playoff like that with his short game, you know that you're up against it. So to come out on top was really big for my confidence. I have to keep building on things like that this year.