Top-20 European players to watch out for in 2012: Part-8
Poulter joined the lucrative PGA Tour in 2005 but his bid turned out futile for he was only able to bag one title in five-year stretch. Poulter won the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson, Arizona in 2010, defeating countryman Paul Casey.
Poulter started off the current year, hoping to strike early form at the beginning of the season. He failed to make the cut at the season starter Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship and fell in for terrible results in consecutive events in the proceeding months.
He finally won his sole title for the year, Volvo World Match Play Championship in May where he took over Ryder Cup team mate Luke Donald by 2&1. Poulter is known for playing better golf when he is pitched in one-on-one battle, especially the Match Play formats,
where he excels in his trade. He missed the cut in both the US Open and the Open Championship and closed the season with a joint fourth at the UBS Hong Kong Open.
Poulter is known for his eccentric clothing on the course, apparel designed by his mother who used to run Letchworth branch of UK women's fashion chain Dorothy Perkins. He is often seen wearing chequered trousers, with matching shirts and also boost of shades
of the same colours. Poulter is also an avid car collector and his garage has a collection of Ford GT, a Bentley Continental GT, a Ferrari California, and has owned a Ferrari, Nissan Skyline and an Aston Martin DB9.
Poulter closed the year with total earnings of € 1,015,671 on the European Tour alone with a scoring average of 71.40.
Sergio Garcia
Official World Golf Rankings: 17
Race to Dubai Rankings: 8
European Tour wins in 2011: 2
What appeared to be another lacklustre year for the struggling Sergio Garcia, the grizzled Spaniard pulled in glorious back-to-back victories on his home turf to end his three year long winless streak at the end of the season. Having turned professional
in 1999 and being part of the European Tour from the same year, Garcia has been one of the brilliant players on the tour circuit who has carded 22 professional victories in his more than a decade long career. He won two events on the tour on his debut year,
the Murphy’s Irish Open and Linde German Masters and was nominated for the prestigious Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year for 1999.
Garcia fell in for serious form vows later in his career and was winless since his last victory at HSBC Champions in November 2008. During his struggle to regain his lost form, he attempted to change his already eccentric swing but with little luck. He started
off the current year with a strong joint ninth finish at Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy. He suffered a terrible finger injury which kept him from playing few of the events but somehow managed to find his place at the US Open field
at Congressional this year.
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