A TRIPLE bogey eight was the undoing of David Howell’s second round at the Lyonness Open today, although he was still able to make the cut despite a two-over 74.

That followed a one-under par opening round on Thursday in Austria to put Howell one-over overall in a tie for 34th place, two shots inside the cutline.

Swindon star Howell will be eight shots off the pace heading into the weekend, with Frenchman Gregory Bourdy and South African Zander Lombard setting the pace on seven-under.

The Broome Manor man will tee off his third round at 7.55am (BST) tomorrow morning, alongside fellow Englishmen Chris Hanson and Richard Bland.

After starting his round on the 10th hole, Howell was going along nicely at one-under for the day as he arrived on the tee at the par-five 15th – his sixth – looking to pick up another shot.

However, what transpired could not have been more different as he posted a triple bogey to fall to two-over for the day and go tumbling down the leaderboard.

The wheels were in danger of coming off Howell’s round after that as he recorded another bogey at the 17th hole but the two-time Ryder Cup star recovered with a birdie on the next to reach the turn two-over.

A third birdie of the day followed on the first hole – Howell’s 10th – but that was as good as it got for the 40-year-old as he concluded his round with a bogey and seven pars to finish the day two-over and one-over for the tournament.

Fellow Wiltshire players Jordan Smith and Laurie Canter missed the cut by two shots after finishing on five-over.

Both carded two-over rounds of 74 on Friday, having opened up the tournament with a pair of 75s.