European golf has a lot for which to thank Jim Furyk and Chad Campbell. Granted, it takes a small leap of faith to make the connection, but it's perfectly possible to present a case that leads us to owe a vote of gratitude to the Pennsylvanian and the amiable Texan.

And not for what they did, either. Nor for what they won. Far from it. We should be indebted to them for a match that they lost.

Confused? OK, let's cut to the chase. The performance they produced on the second morning of the Ryder Cup match at Oakland Hills in the leafy Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Township might just have been the moment that the young fellow who is our best player by a distance right now was finally persuaded that one fine day quite soon he might become rather good at this game.

His name is David Howell, who a mere few hours after his mighty victory in the BMW Championship on Sunday found out that he was, for the first time, officially one of the 10 best players in the world.

David Howell is now No. 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking. (Getty Images)

Howell had a more-than-decent career profile before that morning in Michigan in 2004 but the moment that represented his personal epiphany came when he and Paul Casey defeated Furyk and Campbell by one hole.

Any point gained in the Ryder Cup is a point well won, but this one had particular significance. The Americans were fighting back after a traumatic first day on which they had won only a point and a half out of the eight available. Furyk and Campbell were one up with two play in their fourball rubber, only for Howell to birdie the short 17th and Casey to win the last. Their seminal victory put Europe back on course -- they won the foursomes 3-1. The next day history was made.

Howell talked about that morning and the whole of his Ryder Cup experience the morning after his triumph in the Tour's flagship event at Wentworth. He spoke glowingly about Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke, all of whom made heavy-scoring contributions to Europe's cause in the United States.

Fair enough. They did. But the difference between the David Howell of 2004 and the same man today is that he is now prepared to speak of himself in the same light as those chaps. He wants to serve his captain better than he did at Oakland Hills (the point he won with Casey was his only one of the match). Further, he would relish the opportunity to become one of Europe's main men.

"I was in awe of the likes of Lee, Darren and Sergio at the last one," he said as he prepared to cross the Atlantic to play in the Memorial this week. "But I'd love Woosie to put me first on the team sheet Friday morning and go out and try to win a point. I'd like to assume that role."

In other people, the tenor of Howell's words might be regarded as a bit florid, a touch inflated, a tad Technicolor. Not with this young fellow. He's a sober, modest type who has never been given to shouting about himself.

He wouldn't know how to talk that sort of talk. Unless he had better-than-reasonable expectations that he could walk the walk, too. In other words, when he makes such statements, a wise man listens.

One important thing he does not have to be concerned about is whether he will make the team. With close to the equivalent of $2 million in the bag already this season, almost twice as much as Casey, who's second in the table, he's there.

It's all a bit different to two years ago. He didn't make the team until the final day of qualifying then contributed just that one point. It will be some sort of a major surprise if he doesn't fare considerably better this time around.

He won't be frightened of anybody when he gets to the K Club, either. When you've outscored Tiger Woods, as he did when they were playing partners on the final day of the HSBC Champions Tournament in Shanghai in November, taking Howell to the third European Tour victory of his 10-year career, you don't need to have fear of your opponents.

There will be respect, of course. A failure to show that is a sure and certain recipe for defeat. But for this open-faced young chap, for whom a smile is never far away, where there was once a little self-doubt, there is now a quiet self-confidence.

When he went to the United States with his Ryder Cup colleagues in 2004, Howell was little-known to the American public and only a little better acquainted to some of the home team's players. On both counts, it will be different, very different, this time.