Only last month, David Howard and his dad drove past the gates of Royal Birkdale on their way to the nearby Hoylake for the British Amateur Championship.
Howard had never been to an Open Championship, so the pair pulled into the car park to catch a glimpse of the towering grandstands surrounding the fairways at this week’s tournament venue.
Fast forward a few weeks, and Howard and his campervan are back through the gates, albeit this time as a competitor, after the 1,456th-ranked amateur golfer qualified for the tournament for the very first time.
And yet somehow, that particular tale represents one of the more believable chapters in Howard’s improbable journey to this point.
Howard has cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic condition that causes thick, sticky mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive system. It can lead to severe lung infections and also causes difficulties absorbing nutrients, making it harder to maintain muscle and energy levels.
Howard was diagnosed aged seven, late for someone with CF, but the reality of his condition didn’t hit home until his early teens when he researched his life expectancy only to discover he might die in his mid-20s.
‘It’s mad to even look back and think about those days,’ Howard tells Metro. ‘It’s tough to think back to now, thinking back to probably the lowest moment of my life to now being past the mid-20s, playing good golf and living a bit of my dream.’
Howard still has to take as many as 30 tablets a day to manage his condition, which has stabilised greatly in the last seven years since the emergence of modulators which help to thin the mucus in his lungs.
Alongside those, the Irishman ingests digestive enzymes with every meal to help his body break down the food, which his pancreas is incapable of doing.
Howard is particularly keen to credit Cork University Hospital’s cystic fibrosis team, who have helped him to chase his dream. More recently, they have been trying to manage back issues which Howard believes stem from the violent coughing fits caused by his condition when he was younger.
Living with CF has not always been this straightforward, though. Perhaps the toughest year of his life came during the coronavirus pandemic, when Howard hid away from friends or family out of fear of catching the virus, which his condition made him more vulnerable to.
What was initially sensible caution spiralled into ten days without food or sleep that led to a manic episode and psychosis. He was eventually brought into hospital but weeks later was still unable to get out of bed.
But it was those dark moments that ultimately led Howard to leave behind his job as an Audi mechanic and go all-in on chasing his sporting dreams.
‘After that kind of experience, and I suppose my whole life with CF and everything, I decided I didn’t want to live any regrets down the line,’ he says.
‘In 2023 I played my first championship, and had got down to a decent level without giving much effort at all. I worked a full day at Audi Cork, went straight down to the golf club and practised till 10 o’clock, and that was kind of most evenings
‘I did decent enough while working full-time, and, I suppose, I said to myself: “What could I do if I gave it more time?” and here we are.’
A breakthrough win came at the 2025 East of Ireland Championship while sleeping in the car park of County Louth, but the 27-year-old amateur still had thoughts about packing up his dream and going back to life as a mechanic.
However, those doubts have now been abandoned after Howard made the most of a late call-up to an Open final qualifying event at Dundonald Links, shooting rounds of 69 and 71 to finish joint second and punch his ticket to Birkdale.
‘I haven’t had much time to think about it properly, but it’s going to be a great week,’ he says.
‘It’s still hard to believe that I’ll be playing in The Open, to be honest. Last year and this year, I have had thoughts of going back to being a mechanic, so I don’t think The Open was on the trajectory. It’s unbelievable.’
And beyond his own excitement, Howard is also hopeful that his presence at the tournament can inspire others living with cystic fibrosis to not give up on their dreams.
‘Hopefully that they can look at me and see that they can achieve their goals and dream seriously to put their mind to,’ he says.
‘It just goes to show that it’s not the end of the world, as bad as it can be. There are a lot of negatives and stuff like that, but I suppose just to show others that they can still follow their passions and their dreams and enjoy life.’
After coming through qualifying with his dad on the bag, Howard has turned away offers from tour caddies to continue the journey with his father.
And while he’ll be up against the world’s best for the first time in his career, Howard is not lowering his expectations, ending: ‘I’m not there just to make up numbers, I’m trying to go into the week thinking that I’m going to try my best to keep it as a normal tournament.
‘We’ll just take it one shot at a time and see where that leaves me on Friday and hopefully that gets me through to Sunday. Let’s aim for the Claret Jug and see where we go from there.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.