For Ian Poulter, art of scheduling goes form hitch to hassle
Ian Poulter has had a sensational season in 2012. The year, admittedly, began with a rather slow start but the bombastic Brit boomeranged and picked up speed as the year progressed.
Until his characteristic ‘eye-bulging, fist pumping’ verve had run out of gas by the last two events at the year’s end.
"I put myself in a situation this week where, to be honest, I'm kind of spent," Poulter said, speaking to Reuters after the events in Dubai and California.
"My body was just telling me, and I was making stupid mistakes. The first two days I was tired on the golf course and obviously it (jet-lag) takes its toll out of you. It's hard to get it exactly right.
"There are so many good tournaments around the world and I would love to play all of them but unfortunately we can't. You have to look at it, plan it and try and play where you know you can perform".
Despite his second World Golf Championship win this season, Poulter acknowledged feeling like butter spread over too much bread.
There are tell-tale signs of that, for example his finishing 17th, near the bottom of the 18-player field at Tiger Wood’s World Challenge tournament on Sunday.
The Englishman needs to watch Phil Mickelson, who had similar problems with scheduling his calendar a while back.
Arranging golf tournaments is an art that needs to be mastered. Most elite players, of course Poulter being amongst them, can easily overdo their workload. As a result, that can lead to a drastic drop in performance.
As Poulter was to experience, it is more often the jet-lag that takes its toll on the body than the exercise out on the green.
Owing to golf’s ascent to much international aspiration, more and more lucrative tournaments sprout around the world that attract the attention of some of the game’s best golfers.
That, consequently, requires a great deal of travelling, which can quickly go from hitch to hassle.
Golf has a number of wide-ranging tournaments dotted throughout the year, picking-and-choosing the right ones to play at becomes an art in itself.
Good golfers try to play at as many events as possible. Great golfers know which ones to choose.
Tags: