Angel Cabrera and David Howell tee off in the European Open at the K Club tomorrow having experienced extremes of emotions in the past month.

For Cabrera it was the ecstasy of winning the US Open three weeks ago, Argentina's first major victory for 40 years. And he held off Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk to do it.

No wonder he did not hit a single shot in two weeks of celebrating back in his home country before flying to Co Kildare.

Asked today what his drink of choice was Cabrera gave a one-word answer: "Todo". Everything.

Howell, on the other hand, did not even make it to the first tee at Oakmont after suffering wrist trouble at the very moment he had recovered from a back problem.

The Ryder Cup star has not played since. Indeed he has not played a tournament since the second week of May and the last time he got through one without having to pull out was the Masters nearly three months ago.

On the eve of his long-awaited return to action the injury-prone Howell admitted that this particular lay-off had hit him far harder than previous ones.

"I've been a bit down with it this time," he said. "It's been a testing time - at one stage I felt I was never going to get back out here. The last three weeks I've been really low. It's not like when I broke my arm. I knew then how long it was likely to keep me out. With this I didn't know and I've not been able to get away from it mentally."

At 32 Howell knows that in golfing terms he is still young. A year ago, though, he was flying high at the top of the European Order of Merit and was in the world top 10. Tomorrow he drives off 140th on the money list.

"Hopefully some of my best years are to come, but I've got to stay somewhat healthy for that," he said. "I've got to be wise and clever about it. I probably wasn't as a young professional - at 25 you think you are indestructible."