POULTER’S FANTASTIC FINISH TO MAD WEEK

IAN POULTER drained a 16-foot birdie on the final green at the Masters to end his crazy week on another high.

The Ryder Cup legend (above) won a play-off at the Houston Open last Sunday to book the last ticket at Augusta.

He arrived on Tuesday, played with Tiger Woods on Saturday and then carded his best round of the week, a 69, yesterday to finish on fourover par.

“I’ve had a great week, I’ve enjoyed it,” Poulter said. “It would have been fairytale to have gone close but it wasn’t to be.

“I just have to play well and stay fresh for next year and hopefully make sure I am coming back and knowing earlier so I can actually prepare.

“I love this course, I know how to play it and I know how to shoot a good score on it, so I would love to be able to plan to get here with a bit more time.

“I’m tired. As excited as you are to go and play, with adrenalin and all that, you only realise you are tired when you are making sloppy mistakes. I am definitely tired but I am heading up to play Hilton Head.”

Poulter’s first strokeplay victory on American soil saw him climb to world No.29 and up the Ryder Cup rankings. And the 42-year-old is now able to refine his schedule.

“I will try and cut a couple of tournaments out and just try and plan a bit more for the rest of this season,” he said. “I am in the right tournaments now, which is great as the pressure is off.

“I can enjoy and try and prepare for events, the ones I choose to play.”

The match-play veteran got a taste of Ryder Cup action when he played with Woods in the third round.

“It was great,” Poulter said. “I haven’t played with him for a while. It was nice coming up 18. I just said how nice it was to see him healthy and playing good golf.

“He said it was nice to see me winning, so it was nice to play with him. I guess we would both have liked to have been teeing off in the afternoon rather than the morning but nevertheless it was still enjoyable.

“Of course I would like to see him in France at the Ryder Cup. It would be awesome. It would be great.”

Tyrrell Hatton (left) finished level with Poulter after making the Masters cut for the first time on his second appearance.

But after breaking par for the first time yesterday with a 70, the world No.17 said: “Overall, it’s been a frustrating week, I just didn’t quite have my game with me this week.

“I actually played really well on Saturday and I just couldn’t hole a putt, and bad finish, shoot one-over, when I could easily have shot fiveunder.”