RYDER RETURN SURELY ON THE CARDS FOR POULTER

IT WAS an excellent weekend for sport; a unification fight won by a British heavyweight champion, Manchester City’s outstanding performance at Everton, a landmark win for Tottenham at Chelsea — but, despite this, was there anything finer than Ian Poulter’s victory in the Houston Open? To win from 123rd place on the first-round leaderboard is unprecedented in PGA Tour history — as was Poulter’s first strokeplay victory in the USA. That he holed a 20-foot putt to force a play-off with Beau Hossler — won on the first hole — merely added to the drama and the sense Poulter had recaptured the famous spirit of Medinah as he claimed the last berth at this year’s US Masters. That his back was to the wall in getting to Augusta makes it one of the greatest victories by a British golfer outside the majors. It is unthinkable that he will not line up against America at the Ryder Cup in September, too. They won’t forget this in a hurry.