 Swindon's Howell has missed three of the last four cuts |
England's David Howell has flown to American to try to reverse a slump in form which has seen him miss three cuts in his last four tournaments. Howell, 31, the European Order of Merit leader, will play in the International in Colorado this week, then the USPGA in Illinois and the WGC-Invitational.
"My swing's been a bit harder to put into place than I thought," he said.
"It's been a tough stretch but I try not to get too up when things are going well or too down when things go badly."
Swindon's Howell has won twice this season, holding off Tiger Woods down the stretch in China in November before beating the cream of the European Tour at the PGA Championship at Wentworth in May.
 | The Ryder Cup is just so pressurised and I need to get rid of as much tension from the swing as possible |
Howell also finished a creditable 16th at the US Open but since then missed the cut in France, Germany and at the Open Championship in Hoylake.
But he said: "After practising last week I'm feeling really confident again and looking forward to another good stretch of tournaments.
"It's almost a change to the timing of my set-up routine really. I was starting to stand over the ball for two or three seconds very still, very tense, especially over my right arm.
"My coach and I have been aware of it for quite a while. It cropped up at the US Open, even though I played well that week. My bad shots still seemed to be caused by that flaw.
"I set to the task of trying to change it straight after the US Open and it proved to be very difficult, but I feel like I've sort of done it now. Basically I'm setting up a bit quicker."
Howell also leads the European Ryder Cup standings and is guaranteed to win his second cap at the K Club in September.
He was also struggling with his game the week of his Ryder Cup debut in Detroit two years ago and desperately wants to avoid a repeat of that.
"You don't want to be going in playing poorly and certainly it's on my mind to be on top form," said Howell.
"The Ryder Cup is just so pressurised and I need to get rid of as much tension from the swing as possible. So hopefully that will work out."
Howell will be joined by fellow Britons Paul Casey, Brian Davis, Greg Owen, Justin Rose and Simon Wakefield in the stableford-style points-scoring event in America this week.
Tiger Woods is missing but they will be competing against the likes Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Sergio Garcia and Jose Maria Olazabal.
Greg Norman plays his first event on the circuit since the same tournament a year ago.
This is also the penultimate week for America's Ryder Cup team to earn qualification points.
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