IAN IS ON THE UP
Poulter’s Bjorn again
IAN POULTER has found his swagger once more and now his voice is as loud as his trousers.
And that’s just how Europe’s Ryder Cup skipper Thomas Bjorn likes it.
The flamboyant Englishman is a force to be reckoned with again after a worrying slump.
And Bjorn has a sneaky feeling that Poulter could contend at The Open this week on a course he knows well.
After thinking he’d lost his tour card in America earlier this year, the world No.78 was given a stay of execution and has returned to form following injury troubles.
Clobber
A top-10 finish at the Scottish Open set up the 41-year-old for a tilt at Royal Birkdale – where he finished runner-up to Padraig Harrington in 2008.
Bjorn and Poulter were Ryder Cup vice-captains together last year as Darren Clarke’s men lost at Hazeltine.
But the Dane wants Poulter on the team as a player in 2018 and reckons the man once famed as a clothes horse because of his bright choice of clobber can be a dark horse this week.
Bjorn said: “Ian is a contender. When he does it right, you know what he can do.
“He’s strutting around a bit more, he’s a bit louder – we hear him coming now! That’s the way we like him, the way we want him to be. So it’s nice to see him playing good golf.
“He had a great experience at Birkdale last time so I think he’ll be there or thereabouts.
“He went to the qualifier, and little things like that show the determination in him.
“Once he gets that tail up, he’s as good as anyone. When he gets the confidence going, he holes putts and challenges. So I think he can be a contender.”
Poulter missed the first four months of the season with a foot injury but has now hit his stride.
He is confident his game is good enough to see him break his Majors duck and Bjorn agreed.
The man who tied for second in The Open in 2000 and 2003 said: “When you get through your late 30s and early 40s everybody goes through a spell where golf is not that important.
“You lose it a little bit – and it’s very difficult to get back. When they get the bit between their teeth, they can still fight their way back.
“The Players Championship was hugely important to Ian and we saw the real Ian Poulter.
“As much as I liked having him in the backroom team at the Ryder Cup, I want him out there playing in 2018.
“So my message to all the guys is to play – play hard and concentrate on that.”