Poulter puts nightmares behind him

Brit in shootout for £1.5m prize

AMORNING with the kids on Jacksonville beach followed by an afternoon fighting it out down the stretch a near $ 2million (£ 1.5m) jackpot in the Players Championship. Yes, life is back on track for England’s Ian Poulter.

A rough 18 months on and off the course receded blissfully into the rear view mirror as the 41-year- old took on Korean Siwoo Kim, 21, and former Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, 34, in a three-man contest representing three golfing generations that was as compelling as it was unexpected.

For the veterans, a man without so much as a top-10 finish for 14 months and a 175-1 shot at the start of the event. For the rookies, another bright young thing already a winner on the PGA Tour and seeking to become the youngest winner of the PGA Tour’s flagship event. In the middle, the stylish South African Oosthuizen, with the best swing in the game.

With five holes to go, including the scary water-laden trinity to finish, Kim was two shots ahead of Poulter and three in front of Oosthuizen

It would take the length of this piece to document the reasons behind Poulter’s marked decline. A player who once prided himself on his world ranking must have stopped looking as he came to the Players in 197th place.

Yet last Wednesday on the practice range he was relaxed and confident, and spoke about finally clearing away the clutter that had prevented him from performing to his ability. He talked freely about the changes he’d made, from splitting with his management company IMG and going back to Paul Dunkley, who looked after his affairs when he first turned pro more than 20 years ago. How his caddy of 11 years Terry Mundy had become his road manager — he is struggling with a chronic back injury — and been replaced by a close caddy friend in James Walton.

‘ He’s swinging a lot better, no doubt about it,’ said leading coach Pe t e Cowen, who keeps an eye on Pouter (right).

The other weight lifted was the restoration of his PGA Tour playing privileges, allowing him to compete here. Three weeks ago he thought he’d lost his card in agonizing circumstances, only for the tour to own up to a horrendous foul-up.

Here he has revelled in getting an unexpected reprieve. It was like having the old Poulter back. On Saturday he was the only man in the field not to have a bogey and yesterday he and Kim were the only men on the leaderboard to be blemishfree over the front nine. Oosthuizen had two sixes over that stretch but got back into matters with a spectacular eagle three at the 11th. It was asking a lot, of course, for Poulter to summon the Ryder Cup mentality of old and get the job done, given everything that was on the line. It’s more than four years since he claimed the last of his 16 professional wins. But he got off to an ideal start, with a tap-in par at the first followed by two beautiful shots into the heart of the par-five second green for a two-putt birdie. Poulter saved par with a good up and down at the third, and then struck a great approach to the sixth to set up another birdie. At the 12th he had his first bogey for 40 holes but the incredible idea he could claim the biggest win of his career and his first strokeplay success in America was still very much alive. ENGLISHMAN Matt Wallace, in just his fifth European Tour start, won the Open de Portugal by three shots from American Julian Suri yesterday. ‘It’s the best feeling ever,’ said the 27-year- old Londoner, following his wire-towire success. ‘ Today was tough but it’s so satisfying.’