Ian Poulter hoping for same again in Singapore
It was a year that promised much for Ian Poulter, but the man who likes to make a splash with his golfing attire hasn't really made much of a splash with his game in recent months.
Fine Ryder Cup campaign aside - he was joint-top points scorer for Europe - Poulter has failed to shine in 2010 after a strong start to the year; he won the WGC - Accenture Match Play Championship in February, and finished a decent 10th at the Masters in April, but since then his form has ranged from the underwhelming to the at times near unwatchable.
At the US Open Poulter finished 47th, was 60th at the Open, and came home in 72nd place at the PGA Championship. Outside the majors, the 34-year-old proved similarly sloppy, ending the BMW PGA Championship in 92nd place.
With those kinds of returns, a 13th place finish at last week's HSBC Champions is definitely an improvement. And with the eccentrically garbed Englishman attempting to defend the Barclays Singapore Open this week, Poulter is hopeful he can recapture some of the year's earlier form for a rousing performance as the season winds down.
"It is always nice to go back to a tournament venue where you have won and obviously Sentosa [Golf Club] is that for me," he told Europeantour.com. "I love the Serapong Course, where three of the four rounds will be played. It’s tricky and testing off the tee and therefore positional play is the key to a good score. But I think that plays to my strengths as I showed last year and I’m very happy with my game at the moment."
In a change of format from last year's competition, one round will also be played at the Tanjong course for the opening two days, while the field has also been extended - from 156 to 204 players in total. And while current world No. 1 Lee Westwood and erstwhile No. 1 Tiger Woods are both otherwise engaged (Woods in Australia, Westwood resting the problematic calf muscle that has hampered him since August), three of this year's major winners will take the field.
US Open winner Graeme McDowell, Masters victor Phil Mickelson and Martin Kaymer, who saw off Bubba Watson to claim this year's PGA Championship, all take to the Asian fairways this week. Only Louis Oosthuizen is absent, the Open Championship winner pulling out because an ankle injury suffered earlier in the year continues to trouble the South African.
Plentiful competition then, but Poulter knows that a win this week won't just take his tally of European Tour event wins into double figures. It will prove that after an indifferent summer, the man who always seems to talk a good game is still capable of playing one, too.
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