Hometown Howell Hoping to Emulate Mize

by Mulligan Stu on Apr 3, 2007 9:06 AM EDT

A guy from Augusta, Ga., once won the The Masters at Augusta National Country Club.

That guy was Larry Mize, a journeyman who somehow held on in his hometown to force a playoff with Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros. Then, after Seve had already been eliminated, holed a famous chip shot to beat Norman.

One of the Augusta residents in the crowd that day was Charles Howell III, then seven years old.

Howell is now 27 and seems finally to be fulfilling the potential he's obviously displayed since showing up on the PGA Tour. And he has high hopes to be the second Augustan to win The Masters:

"It (winning) would be very, very special.

"This is the Masters and Augusta National, and that speaks for itself. It's as close as I've seen to heaven to this point.

"The whole place has been special to me and it was to my advantage to grow up in Augusta to be a golfer."

Howell has a win and two seconds so far this year, along with two more Top 10s. He's third on the money list. His power and distance are great things to have at Augusta, but Howell - like everyone else in the field - will need a great week with the putter to win.

He's using the memory of watching Mize capture his hometown as inspiration:

"That was definitely big for me, although I didn't appreciate it at the time," Howell recalled.

"I didn't realise how big of a feat it was, a person from Augusta winning the Masters.

"And people don't talk about who he beat in that playoff either. Larry Mize was not the favourite going into that playoff, let's face it.

"For him to come out on top of that and to be from Augusta, you've got to play some good golf to get in that position against those names.

"That was a big part of my growing up, to see a guy from Augusta win the Masters right here in my backyard."

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