Poulter savours ‘great week’ at Augusta

Ian Poulter would love another meeting with Tiger Woods in the Ryder Cup after saving his best until last at the Masters.

Poulter secured the last place in the field at Augusta National with his victory at the Houston Open and admitted his lack of preparation was a factor over the first three days.

But the 42-year-old rallied to card a closing 69 with seven birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey on the fifth.

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

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

“As excited as you are to go and play, with adrenaline and all that, you only realise you are tired when you are making sloppy mistakes.

“I’m going to shorten the schedule, for sure. Try and cut a couple of tournaments out and just try and plan a bit more for the rest of this season.

“I am in the right tournaments now, which is great as the pressure is off from that standpoint. I can enjoy and try and prepare for events, the ones I choose to play.”

Poulter partnered Tiger Woods in the third round at Augusta and added: “It was great. 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.”

Asked if he would like to see Woods at the Ryder Cup in Paris in September, Poulter added: “Of course, it would be awesome. It would be great.”

Picture: Getty. Ian Poulter striding up the fifth fairway yesterday.