Print this page  |  Close Window

By Melanie Hauser
PGATOUR.com Correspondent

SCOTTSDALE -- Over the years we've teased him with the Thurston thing.

We've watched him go through fast cars, flashy cars and a gas-guzzling Hummer.

And, we've gotten used to him being a man of many thoughts. Too many on the golf course -- at times -- for his own good.

Charles Howell III is all smiles and on top of the FedExCup standings. (Joan Alexander/PGA TOUR)

But finally in this, his seventh full year on TOUR, Charles Howell III is grabbing our attention for his game. The one he -- and everyone else -- expected would have earned him more than just one top 10 season and one win in his career.

No, he hasn't won this year. He came close at the Sony Open, but couldn't close it out. More on that later.

And last week? He found out what Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk -- to name a few -- have been saying all these years is the gospel truth. Tiger Woods finds a way to win.

Still, those two runner-up finishes -- with a tie for 65th at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic sandwiched between them -- have pushed him to the top of the FedExCup point standings where he has a 230-point lead on Vijay Singh going into this week's FBR Open, where they're both in the field.

"Obviously I couldn't have asked for a much better start to the year, obviously apart from maybe winning a tournament, but no, to be leading the FedExCup, truthfully, at any time of the year is great,'' Howell said after a chilly, rainy practice round. "Obviously the end of the year would be the best, but --

"You know, it also serves as a year long goal, if you will. At the beginning of the year I think a lot of people are asked what are your goals, et cetera, and, you know, the FedExCup is a great way to keep pushing you and keep pushing you along.''

And, speaking of goals, he's second on the money list, which gives him a great start toward another of his 2007 goals -- making the Masters field. He needs to be in the top 10 the week prior to the Masters to make it.

"It's a hell of a motivator,'' said Howell, who grew up about three miles from Augusta National's front gates. "You know that tournament obviously means more to me than anything.

"Yeah, it was on my mind at the Sony Open (in Hawaii), it was on my mind playing on Sunday in San Diego because regardless of whatever outcome, be it finish second, third, fourth, first, whatever, every shot matters as far as playing my way back into Augusta.''

And making up for last year. Howell finished tied for 13th in 2004, but missed the cut the last two years. And, well, his rounds of 80-84 from 2006 still aren't sitting too well with him.

"Obviously I didn't play well last year at Augusta at all, '' he said, ''and I would love nothing more than to get back there to have another crack at it. I mean, let's face it, I can't do much worse.''

Hold that thought because Howell, who had so much promise when he came out of Oklahoma State and finished ninth on the money list in 2002, went through a slump last season that brought him to tears during an 80-minute conversation with David Leadbetter. At roughly 2:00 a.m. Leadbetter/London time.

Howell was so upset with his game after The INTERNATIONAL that, sitting in the Denver Airport, he decided to call Leadbetter, his long time coach with whom he had parted ways back in March. And they hadn't talked in a long while.

"Now, David you understand is Batman,'' Howell said. "The guy doesn't sleep... I called him and I got his voice mail and I left a message for him to call me. So I thought, oh, I got that over with. Sure enough, he called right back. We proceeded to talk in the airport there for an hour and 20 minutes.

"You know, it was tough. There were some tears shed. Leaving David was a real hard thing to do, and I did it because I didn't think I was getting any better. You know, I knew that I was working as hard as anybody, but I wasn't getting where I wanted to go. I probably hit the panic button a little bit. I probably forgot I was 26 at the time. You know, I probably forgot that this was a marathon, not a sprint. But I went out searching.

"David, he got his lashes in on me, and I took them. But then after 30 minutes or so of that, it was back to normal, back to, 'Let's get your butt back in gear and let's get to working.' ''

The next day he was on the range at Champions Gate in Orlando and a few weeks later, he could feel things turning around a few weeks later.

The off-season was a chance to work on his short game and keeping the ball in the fairway off the tee. He went to Callaway for help fitting a new putter and driver. And, he went to the video, watching tapes of David Toms and Brad Faxon to help smooth out his putting tempo and stroke. "I'm a long way from getting it exactly right,'' he said, "but it is getting better.''

Which brings us to that Sony Open. He had a two-shot lead with nine to play and, well, he struggled in and finished one shot behind Paul Goydos and in a tie with Luke Donald.

"Had I driven the ball in the fairway more often on that back nine or had I gotten that ball up and down on 18 to force a playoff, it could have been a different story,'' Howell said. "But going forward, in San Diego, the back nine there, I drove the ball the best I've driven it in I don't know how long.''

He's still of the mind the top five players in the world also have the top five short games and he's learned first-hand from practicing with Tiger at Isleworth.

"He doesn't like practicing the easy shots,'' Howell said. "He likes going to the corners of the bunker, he likes going to the rough, he likes moving the pins around on the edges.''

And so Howell is maturing. He's stopped tinkering with clubs, which is huge for him, and he's beginning to morph from a mechanical player into more of a feel player. Which was another part of the problem with his game -- and his relationship with Leadbetter. Both of them love the mechanics of the swing, but it got to the point where Howell was working on too many things at once.

"I'm doing a much better job of staying on task of, okay, this is what we're going to work on and this is what we're going to fix and then we're not going to go to the next thing until we get this right,'' Howell said. "That's as much my fault as it is David's fault as anything because David loves mechanics and I love them, okay, I got that right, what else can we do, let's do this, let's do that, and before I knew it I had six things to do. None of them got fixed. ''

Now they do.

"I think that just for David to take the phone call and to say, okay, let's get back to work at the drop of a hat, you know our relationship he's like a father to me and I'm like a son,'' Howell said. "Fathers and sons argue and they always come back.''

It's been almost a year since Howell walked away and nearly six months since he made that late-night call. And life couldn't be too much better.

Three tournaments into the year, Howell has that pair of seconds, the FedEx lead, a great perspective on himself and his game and -- one last thing -- an amusing perspective of what Tiger's golf course designs might look like.

"I've got a feeling they're going to be long... they're going to be probably fairly forgiving off the tee, but then brutal around the green,'' he said.

We get the feeling Howell will be ready.

Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved.