Early years and amateur career

Howell was born and raised in Augusta, Georgia, the home town of the Masters Tournament. He was introduced to golf at age 7 by next-door neighbor, Graham Hill, with whom he is still friends. He was a member of Augusta Country Club, which is adjacent to Amen Corner at Augusta National Golf Club. Howell graduated from Westminster Schools of Augusta, and soon after attended Oklahoma State University, where he majored in Business Management. In 2000, he was a member of Oklahoma State's winning team and also the individual winner at the NCAA Division I Golf Championship with a record-setting 23-under-par performance. Also in 2000, he won the Haskins Award honoring the most outstanding collegiate golfer in the United States.

Howell played in three professional events as an amateur. At the age of 17, Howell participated in his first PGA Tour event. He entered the Buick Challenge but missed the cut. The next year he missed the cut at the Canon Greater Hartford Open. Howell finished in a tie for second at the 2000 Buy.com Greensboro Open on the Buy.com Tour. At the time it was the best finish by an amateur in a Nationwide Tour event.

Professional

2000

Howell turned professional in 2000. He played in his first tournament as a professional at the Canon Greater Hartford Open on July 2. He finished tied in 32nd place. Howell finished in 3rd at the John Deere Classic in only his third event. Howell played in 13 events in 2000 and made 7 cuts. He earned $263,533 but did not have an official money list rank because he was not a full PGA Tour member.

2001

Howell placed in the top-10 in two of his first four events of the 2001 season. In July at the Greater Milwaukee Open he lost to Shigeki Maruyama in a playoff. Howell also placed in 4th at the Reno-Tahoe Open and he finished in a tie for 3rd at the Michelob Championship at Kingsmill. Howell entered 24 events in 2001 and he made 20 cuts. Howell earned $1,520,632 and recorded five top-10 finishes. Just like in 2000, Howell did not have an official money list rank because he was not a full PGA Tour member. Due to his successful year, Howell won the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year award.

Also, in February Howell played in two European Tour events in Australia. He finished in a tie for 67th at the Heineken Classic and in a tie for 39th at the Greg Norman Holden International.

2002

Howell became a full PGA Tour member for the 2002 season. He had a strong start to the season by placing in the top-10 in three of his first five events. Howell won his first PGA Tour tournament at the Michelob Championship at Kingsmill in October. Four weeks later he finished in second at The Tour Championship. He finished 2 strokes behind champion Vijay Singh. Howell entered 32 events in 2002 and made 27 cuts. He recorded seven top-10 finishes. Howell earned $2,702,747 and finished 9th on the money list.

2003

Early in the 2003 season, Howell lost in a playoff to Mike Weir at the Nissan Open. Howell recorded his best finish in a major at the PGA Championship in August. He finished tied for 10th place. Howell finished as the runner-up at The Tour Championship for the second year in a row. This time he finished 3 strokes behind Chad Campbell. Two weeks later Howell represented the United States in the Presidents Cup. The competition ended in a draw. Howell was paired with Tiger Woods for the foursomes and four-ball matches. His overall record at the competition was 3-2 including a match play victory over fellow young golfer Adam Scott. Howell defeated Scott by the score of 5&4. Howell entered 31 tournaments and made 29 cuts. He recorded six top-10's and earned $2,568,955. Howell finished in 14th on the money list.

2004

Howell's 2004 season did not go as well as previous ones. His best finished was a solo 2nd at the Booz Allen Classic in June. He finished 4 strokes behind Adam Scott. Howell shot a 61 (-10) in the 1st round which still stands as his lowest round in a PGA Tour tournament. Howell entered 30 tournaments and made 22 cuts. He recorded five top-10 finishes. He earned $1,703,485 and finished 33rd on the money list.

2005

Howell started off 2005 strong with top three finishes in consecutive weeks. He finished in a tie for 3rd at the Sony Open in Hawaii and in a tie for second at the Buick Invitational. Howell was not able to pick up a victory in 2005 but he recorded six top-10 finishes including five top 5 finishes. Howell entered 29 tournaments and made 21 cuts. He earned $2,074,329 and finished 29th on the money list.

2006

Howell did not have a very successful season in 2006. His only success was a tie for second at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and a solo second at the 84 Lumber Classic. Howell entered 30 tournaments and made 20 cuts. He recorded three top-10 finishes and only five top 25 finishes. He earned $1,553,105 and finished in 52nd on the money list.

2007

Howell bounced back from his disappointing 2006 season with a successful 2007 season. He recorded two runner-up finishes in his first three tournaments. He finished in a tie for 2nd at the Sony Open in Hawaii and in solo second at the Buick Invitational. On February 18, 2007 Howell won his second PGA Tour event. He won the Nissan Open by defeating Phil Mickelson in a playoff. The next week Howell made it to the round of 16 at the 2007 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Two weeks later he finished in a tie for 6th at the PODS Championship. Howell did not enjoy much success after that. His best finish after the PODS Championship in March was at the WGC-CA Championship where he finished in a tie for 16th place. Howell entered the 2007 FedEx Cup Playoffs in 8th place in the points standings. He played in all 4 playoff tournaments. His best finish came at the BMW Championship where he finished in a tie for 18th place. Howell went on to finish in 18th place in the final FedEx Cup points standings. Howell has earned $2,832,091 in 2007 and is currently in 18th place on the money list. He has entered 26 tournaments, making 19 cuts. He has recorded five top-10 finishes. Howell also participated in the Presidents Cup in September. The United States won the competition and Howell was 2-2 in his matches. He won his singles match against Stuart Appleby by the score of 2&1.

2008

Howell recorded his worst finish on the money list in his career in 2008, finishing in 69th with $1,449,232. He finished tied for 8th in the first tournament of the year at the Mercedes-Benz Championship. His next top-10 finish came at the AT&T Classic in May where he finished tied for 8th. He led the tournament going into the final round but shot a 74 (+2) to lose the lead. Howell shared the lead going into the final round of the Turning Stone Resort Championship in October but ended up finishing tied for 3rd after shooting a 73 (+1). Howell made 22 of 31 cuts on the year while recording four top-10s, 12 top 25s and finishing 95th in the FedEx Cup standings.

2009

Howell started the 2009 season strong in January with a 4th-place finish in the Sony Open in Hawaii; three behind winner Zach Johnson. In March, Howell finished with a respectable T21 at the Puerto Rico Open. The next week, Howell had his best finish of the season by finishing T2 in the Transitions Championship. Howell was in position to win the tournament after the 14th hole, but subsequently bogeyed two of the last four holes to finish one stroke behind winner Retief Goosen. The week after the Transitions Championship, Howell finished T22 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. At the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, Howell was again in position to win the tournament before bogeying two of the last four holes to finish two behind winner Jerry Kelly. Howell missed 6 cuts in 8 events from May to July. Howell recently made an instructional switch from David Leadbetter to Todd Anderson of the Sea Island Golf Club.

2010

Howell started the 2010 season strong posting top-10s in three of his first six tournaments, most notably a T-5 at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Howell had six top-10 finishes in 2010, while missing only 5 of 28 cuts. His best finish in 2010 was T-4 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. He made $1,482,211.

2011

2011 was another consistent year for Howell. Howell's best finish of the year was a T-3, which happened twice in back to back weeks at the FedEx St. Jude Classic and the AT&T National tournaments. Howell had seven top-10 finishes in 2011 and qualified for the Tour Championship. He made $2,509,223.

2012

Howell only had two top-10 finishes in 2012: T2 at the Sony Open in Hawaii and T7 at the McGladrey Classic.

He changed coaches before the fall series to Gary Gilchrist.

2013

Howell had five top-10 finishes in 2013: T-3 at the Sony Open in Hawaii, playoff loss (T-2) at the Humana Challenge, T-9 at the Farmers Insurance Open, T-10 at the Shell Houston Open and T-10 at the Wells Fargo Championship. He finished 38th on the money list and 35th in the FedEx Cup.

2014

Howell had a good season in 2014 having six top-10 finishes and made 24 cuts. He finished T3 at the HP Byron Nelson Championship, T5 at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, T6 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, T6 at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, T7 at the CIMB Classic, and T8 at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

2015

Howell had another good season in 2015 having three top-10 finishes out of 23 cuts. He finished T5 at the Shell Houston Open, T5 at the Farmers Insurance Open, and T10 at the Valspar Championship. He finished T65 at the PGA Championship where he hadn't made the cut since 2011. He finished the end of 2015 being 77th on the money list and 79th on the FedEx Cup rankings.

Personal

Howell lives in Orlando, Florida with his wife, Heather, and their two children.

Amateur wins (1)

• 2000 NCAA Division I Championship

Professional wins (2)

PGA Tour wins (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Oct 6, 2002	Michelob Championship at Kingsmill	−14 (70-65-68-67=270)	2 strokes	Scott Hoch, Brandt Jobe
2	Feb 18, 2007	Nissan Open	−16 (69-65-69-65=268)	Playoff	Phil Mickelson

PGA Tour playoff record (1-3)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	2001	Greater Milwaukee Open	Shigeki Maruyama	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
2	2003	Nissan Open	Mike Weir	Lost to birdie on second extra hole
3	2007	Nissan Open	Phil Mickelson	Won with par on third extra hole
4	2013	Humana Challenge	Brian Gay David Lingmerth	Gay won with birdie on second extra hole Lingmerth eliminated with birdie on first hole

Results in major championships

Tournament	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Masters Tournament	DNP	T29	T28	T13	CUT	CUT	T30	CUT	DNP
U.S. Open	CUT	T18	T53	T36	T75	T37	T51	CUT	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	T65	T42	CUT	DNP	CUT	CUT	CUT
PGA Championship	T22	T17	T10	T31	T15	CUT	T42	T47	CUT

Tournament	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Masters Tournament	DNP	DNP	T19	DNP	DNP	DNP
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	CUT	DNP	DNP	DNP
The Open Championship	DNP	T28	T64	DNP	DNP	DNP
PGA Championship	T48	T26	CUT	CUT	CUT	T65

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	0	0	0	0	0	2	8	5
U.S. Open	0	0	0	0	0	1	9	6
The Open Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	4
PGA Championship	0	0	0	0	1	4	15	10
Totals	0	0	0	0	1	7	40	25

• Most consecutive cuts made - 12 (2001 PGA - 2004 PGA)
• Longest streak of top-10s - 1

Results in World Golf Championship events

Tournament	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Accenture Match Play Championship	R32	R64	R64	R64	R64	R16	R32
Cadillac Championship	DNP	T21	T59	DNP	DNP	T16	T51
Bridgestone Invitational	DNP	T21	T9	DNP	DNP	T39	T27

Tournament	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Accenture Match Play Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	R32
Cadillac Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	T17	T12
Bridgestone Invitational	T29	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
HSBC Champions	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

PGA Tour career summary

Season	Wins	Earnings ($)	Money list rank
2000	0	263,533	n/a
2001	0	1,520,632	n/a
2002	1	2,702,747	9
2003	0	2,568,955	14
2004	0	1,703,485	33
2005	0	2,074,329	29
2006	0	1,553,105	52
2007	1	2,832,091	18
2008	0	1,449,232	69
2009	0	1,804,460	46
2010	0	1,482,211	60
2011	0	2,509,223	25
2012	0	1,284,578	67
2013	0	1,877,389	38
2014	0	1,997,044	45
2015	0	1,257,361	77
Career*	2	28,880,376	26

*Complete through the 2014-15 season.

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur

• Palmer Cup: 1998 (tie)

Professional

• Presidents Cup: 2003 (tie), 2007 (winners)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]