Masters still the target for Poulter
Two weeks ago there was no doubt in Ian Poulter’s mind. “I will be in Augusta,” he said.
But time is running out and the task is becoming tougher if the 30-year-old Ryder Cup star is to be part of the Masters less than a month from now.
After returning from America for the funeral of his grandmother, Poulter is back on the US Tour this week for the Honda Classic in Florida’s Palm Beach Gardens.
By going out in the first round of the Accenture World Match Play Championship to holder David Toms and then missing last week’s Ford Championship, Poulter has slipped to 65th in the world rankings.
He has three chances left to climb back into the top 50 for the first major of the year – this week, then the Bay Hill Invitational and then the Players Championship.
Toms is the only member of the world’s top 10 competing this week for a title won in a play-off last year by Ireland’s Padraig Harrington after a dazzling last-round 63.
But there are two ways of looking at the strength of the field on the Mirasol course. The up side is that it should give the likes of Poulter a better chance to shine, the down side is that there will not be as many world ranking points on offer.
Knowing Poulter, he will be thinking only of the up side.
Prior to facing Toms in California, he said of the Masters: “I fully plan it in the schedule.
“I know my goals. I know what I have got to do to get back in the top 50. I don’t need to look at anything past that. You can get ahead of yourself and people have done that in the past.”
Poulter was disgusted with how he then went on to perform in California, especially as it followed a sixth-place finish in the Johnnie Walker Classic in Australia.
But he hopes some hard practising and some high-tech analysis during his stay in California will soon start paying dividends.
“I am working with equipment I got at the start of the year and all the numbers are showing good stuff, so I am very happy there,” he said.
“But I was not happy with my putting at the start of the year, so I went down to Scotty Cameron’s studio during the week and spent four and a half hours on the camera system working it out.
“My shoulders were slightly open and it’s very difficult, if that is the case, to get the putt tracking back on the perfect line and going through on the perfect line.
“They slow it down to 250 frames a second, so you can get the putter slowed down and see exactly how everything is moving.
“It’s no wonder why Tiger Woods is the best putter in the world. When he sees his putter in slow motion through some of these cameras it’s perfect.”
Harrington is back to defend the title and Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, Greg Owen, Brian Davis and Nick Faldo also play.
