A look at the 20 top players in the world of Golf today: Ian Poulter
Ian Poulter other than being a golf icon is known for his vivid and eccentric dress sense. He was born in England in a city called Hitching on 10 January 1976. He is married to Katie and has three children with her. Poulter and his family are currently settled
in Orlando Florida.
Ever since a young boy Poulter wanted to play golf, his father Terry taught him in the early days. Poulter grew his aspirations of playing golf while working as a golf shop manager at the Chesfield Downs golf club.
Poulter got promoted to European Tour through a qualifying school he won the Italian open in his very first season. After turning professional in the year 1996 at the age of 19, in the year 1999 he got his first win. More wins followed his strong first season;
He was the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the year for the year 2000, most importantly the season end Tour championship in 2004. His highest ranking in the Order of Merit was 4th
in 2010, although in the years 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009 he remained in the top ten rankings.
In 2004 Poulter was a member of the victorious side in the Ryder Cup. This victory gave entitlement to Poulter to get membership in to the PGA Tour in the year 2005 and has since divided his focus and time between the two big tournaments ever since.
In 2008 at the Open Championship Poulter made a hole in one at the 16th hole at Augusta National in the first round. In the Players Championship 2009 Poulter came in second to Henrik Stenson at eight under par four shot behind the winner. But
later in the same year he won the Barclays Singapore Open at the Sentosa Club.
Poulter broke into the top ten ranking of the official world golf rankings in January 2010. His first win in the U.S came in the year 2010 while beating Paul Casey 4 and 2 in the final of the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship, this win had moved him
to 5th in the world rankings In the same year he had the second place finish at the Abu Dhabi Gold Championship. Later that year he won his second title of the year with a one stroke victory in the UBS Honk Kong Open.
The year 2011 gave him something to forget about, he became the first defending champion in 9 years to be eliminated in the first round in Marana Arizona on the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship. Poulter did however bounce back in the European Tours
later in the year in the Volvo World Match Play Championship. He won the title by beating Ryder Cup mate Luke Donald 2 and 1 in the final. He beat Lee Westwood, Nicolas Colsaerts and Francesco Molinari to get to the final.
Poulter has also been a man of some controversy; he smashed a tee marker in 2007 Mercedes-Benz Championship in anguish of the frustration he was going through in the game. He posted an anti-Semitic slur on his twitter account.
At the moment Poulter is ranked 16th on the world rankings, and wants to see himself at the top of the table. The kind of strong character Poulter is, he will surely bring his A game in the future to move up the rankings and leave a mark in the
history books as one of the finest golfers.
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