Howell decides his best is enough

Calling it the scene of a crime might be overly dramatic, but Charles Howell returns to a place where an act of golfing larceny was certainly committed against him a year ago.

That Howell had spent two days already at Torrey Pines without facing the demons of the South course's 18th green wasn't any indication of fear, he insists. In fact, the Augusta native is anxious for another crack at the hole where potential victory turned into defeat in the 2005 Buick Invitational.

"I hope I'm in the same situation and try to do the same thing, to be quite honest," he said. "That was still one of the best shots I've ever hit, and even though it ended up in a bogey it showed you that not all good shots turn out good."

The shot Howell hit was one of the most memorable of 2005 - even counting the ace he posted in the second round of the PGA Championship at Baltusrol. Only this perfect shot didn't end up so perfect.

From 95 yards out on the 72nd hole, Howell hit a sand wedge so purely that it entered the cup without touching the lip. The apparent eagle would have put him in the lead.

But the ball popped right out of the hole, rolled down the front of the green, sank into the pond and left Howell scratching his head with his jaw agape. The resulting bogey accounted for the three-shot deficit that left him in second place instead of in a playoff with friend and legend Tiger Woods.

"I didn't know whether to laugh or cry," Howell said at the time.

A year later, he isn't crying against the cruelty of the golfing gods and the rub of the green.

"If you're not going to win the golf tournament, then what better way to finish," he said. "I could have hit it out to the right, made a (birdie) four and still finished second. So why not finish second the way I did - in a splash of glory."

Howell confronted Woods not long after and said he would like to have seen how the world's best golfer would have handled finishing his own round with Howell's name atop the leaderboard. Tiger, of course, didn't back off.

"He still says he would have beat me, if not in regulation then in a playoff," Howell said.

A year ago that dramatic runner-up performance immediately on the heels of a third-place finish at the Sony Open in Hawaii seemed to signal a breakout year ahead for Howell. Instead, he kind of floundered through the major part of the schedule before riding a late surge into the Tour Championship and regaining his Masters Tournament eligibility.

He says now that looks were deceiving last January.

"Last year I played well at the Sony and played well here, but I didn't think I was really playing as well as the results showed," he said. "As the year progressed, maybe some of that caught back up with me."

That stressful stretch of golf at the end of 2005 left Howell needing to take some time off. With a 20-foot Nitro bass boat and Big Sand Lake behind his house in Orlando, Fla., to get his mind off work, he's more relaxed than ever.

Still, Howell practiced intensely for the more than two months between his final round at East Lake and his opening event in Hawaii. He concentrated on putting and recovering the accuracy off the tee that made him the PGA Tour's top player in total driving in 2002.

That he finished 29th on the money list despite ranking 145th in total driving and 149th in putting average in 2005 showed Howell something.

"Seriously, I don't know how I did it," he said. "But I know I have some big areas to improve on. I feel like I'm on a much better path right now."

Despite being a relative kid at age 26, Howell is a veteran on tour, entering his sixth full season.

"I'm getting old," he said. "I'm about 45 in golf years. Don't let that 26 confuse you there. It does feel weird. I don't feel as anxious as I have in the past early in the year. The more you play the more relaxed you become."

Even preparing to play a golf tournament where he knows he can play well and win won't get Howell to voice any wild goals he has for himself in 2006. The more relaxed Howell prefers to simply work hard and take each opportunity as it comes.

"I've never found success by saying I want to do this, this and this," he said. "I've felt that over the years with expectations it was a bit too much. Basically last year I decided the heck with that, and I'd just try to do the best every day and let that lead to wherever it does. I still have goals, but I'm not so much inundated with those that I can't even function."

It's safe to assume that one of his goals this week would be for any perfectly struck shots to stay in the hole. For a golfing crime victim, it's not too much to ask.

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.