Charles Howell III was born on this day in 1979, 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.
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 BUY.COM Greensboro Open on the Nationwide Tour. At the time it was the best finish by an amateur in a Nationwide Tour event.
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.
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.
