Career
In 2011, he played in British Darts Organisation (BDO International) tournament World Masters where he beat Scott Mitchell 3 legs to 0 and Paul Hogan whom he beat by 3 legs to 1 before losing in the last 24 to Andrew Gilding. He lost in the last 64 of the 2011 United Kingdom Open after falling to Michael van Gerwen 9 legs to 2, after beating Steve Hardy and Tony Ayres. His best result of 2012 was reaching the quarter-finals of the sixth United Kingdom Open Qualifier where he lost 6–2 to Ian White.
Howson again lost in the last 64 of the United Kingdom Open, in a 2–9 defeat to Andy Hamilton.
He was ranked world number 69 going into 2013. Howson played in all eight of the United Kingdom Open Qualifiers with his best results being two last 32 defeats to qualify for the event itself where he lost in the last 64 for the third successive year this time 9–2 to Matt Padgett.
The rest of the year proved to be disappointing for Howson as he failed to qualify for any European Tour events and could not advance beyond the last 64 in the 14 Players Championships he competed in. He lost in the last 32 on the third day but couldn"t advance beyond the last 256 in any of the other days to fall short of earning a new tour card.
Howson now had PDPA Associate Member status which allowed him entry into all United Kingdom Open and European Tour qualifiers as well as the Challenge Tour.
Howson failed to qualify for the United Kingdom Open for the first time, but made the most out of an appearance at the final Players Championship of the year with wins over Mark Dudbridge, Terry Jenkins, Keegan Brown and Christian Kist to reach his second career Personal Digital Cellular quarter-final, where he lost 6–4 against Simon Whitlock. Howson played in all 16 Challenge Tour events in 2015, with his best result being a quarter-final exit in the sixth tournament.
