Ian Poulter overtakes Luke Donald to win the Volvo World Match Play Championship
The final round of the Volvo World Match Play Championship turned out to be an all English affair as last year’s Tucson champion, Ian Poulter thrashed world number two Luke Donald with 2&1 at Finca Cortesin Golf Club Casares, Andalucía Spain.
The thrilling match saw both the Englishmen locked in a stiff battle to clinch the lucrative Match Play title and Donald was eyeing the world number one spot yet again with a back to back Match Play win after WGC Accenture Championship in February. His dreams,
however, all came to grief with Poulter’s romp to a big win.
Poulter’s triumph was well timed as his son Luke’s birthday was also on the same day.
"Happy birthday Luke," he said. "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."
For Poulter, the day was one of the difficult days on the course, pitched against the world number two in a nerve-wrecking action. Donald edged past Poulter for no less than three times but only to lose the lead on the next hole. Giving into extreme pressure,
Donald lost a three-foot putter when the ball circled the lip and refused to drop in.
Poulter moved ahead to sink a 40 footer on the 12th and later bagged two holes to gain a two hole lead. Poulter shot a two-feet approach for the 16th to gain a comprehensive lead on the competitor.
"It was disappointing - I ran out of steam a bit and didn't take the opportunities I had," said Donald after the match.
It was not an entirely disappointing day for Donald, who had earlier thrashed world number three Martin Kaymer in the morning. Kaymer, another contender for the world number one spot, was eager to reverse what happened in Tucson Arizona earlier in the year
when Donald had defeated him to lift the title.
"He played like a machine a little bit," stated Kaymer. "It was unbelievable - he hits the fairways. He really deserves to become the number one."
Poulter had qualified for the final showdown with Donald after taking over Nicolas Colsaerts in the morning session. Colsaerts, the big hitter from Brussels, gave Poulter a tough time and reduced his rampage in the opening round. The match was evenly poised
till the last moment and they had to extend the round to an extra hole when Colsaerts fell in for a bogey.
Poulter’s victory has come out of his consistent putting in all of his five rounds, and he was the only one who made all the final greens in the tournaments. The Englishman also overtook world number one Lee Westwood in the eighth stage of the tournament,
marking an overall phenomenal performance. Poulter collected a winner’s share of €566,660 while Donald had to settle for runner-up share of €377,770.
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