Ian Poulter defeats Luke Donald to win the Volvo Match Play Championship
English golfer, Ian Poulter won the Volvo World Match Play Championship by beating World Number 2 and compatriot, Luke Donald. Winning in Spain, Poulter denied Donald the Number 1 spot yet again, as he was determined to win another Match Play title this year. Beating Donald 2 & 1, Poulter was very happy with the results.
Call it coincidence or good luck, Poulter actually halved the first two of his matches. Playing against Italian Francesco Molinari on Day 1, and Nicholas Collarets on Day 2, Poulter barely made it to the Last 16. In the Last 16, the player faced World Number 1, Lee Westwood, and triumphed due to his birdie on the seventh hole. Beating Westwood 1 up, Poulter faced Molinari again in the
quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals, both the players were all square until the sixteenth hole. But Poulter brought on a birdie spree as he shot birdies on the last two holes, winning the round 2 up. In the semifinal, Poulter faced Colsaerts again and was really lucky in this round. The player won the 19th hole after being all square till the eighteenth and hence moved onto to the finals.
The final round of the Volvo Match Play Championship had all the ingredients for it to be an exhilarating contest. Donald, who has a special talent for Match Play format in golf, gave his level best on the course. With Poulter bogeying hole number two, Donald was 1 up quite early in the round. However, Donald bogeyed the fourth and fifth before coming back again with a 25 footer birdie on the sixth. With both the players being up and down on the leader board, it all lead to the thirteenth hole when both the players were all square.
Poulter birdied the fourteenth hole, and making yet another birdie on the sixteenth, the player was 2 up by hole number 16. With both the players making par on the seventeenth hole, the victory was confirmed for Poulter.
The player was ecstatic to win a cheque of €800,000 as he celebrated his son Luke’s seventh birthday just as he wanted to.
"Happy birthday Luke," said Poulter. "I thought it would be pretty special to win this today. I finally started holing some putts. I've been frustrated for a few months and you have to hole putts to win."
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