Poulter pays for back-nine slump

Ian Poulter’s hopes of lifting a second PGA Tour title in three weeks came crashing down at Hilton Head yesterday, when the Englishman suffered a calamitous final nine holes.

The resurgent 42-year-old led after three rounds of the RBC Heritage and, after birdieing the ninth, was still in the hunt on 13 under, one stroke behind Korean Kim Si-woo. But the form which won Poulter his first event in six years in Houston suddenly deserted him as he came back in five over.

A 75 left him on nine under in a tie for seventh, as Kim was eventually beaten in a play-off by Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira, with another Englishman, Matt Fitzpatrick, in a tie for 14th on eight under par.

Of course, this was not the finish Poulter was looking for but, as he heads into a mini-break, he will still take so much from the recent spell in which he has re-entered the all-important world top 50 and re-established his Ryder Cup credentials.

This was Poulter’s sixth week of tournament play in a row and, for the intense competitor who makes a point of limiting himself to a maximum of three events in succession, it was clear that fatigue had finally taken over.

On the European Tour, an emotional Jon Rahm won his first professional title on home soil at the Open de Espana. The world No4 shot a 67 to finish on 20 under par and, although the details of his two-shot win over Ireland’s Paul Dunne may make it seem as if this was a comfortable success, it was anything but.

With huge galleries at Centro Nacional de Golf in Madrid willing on the 23-year-old – who finished fourth at the Masters the previous weekend – to emulate the likes of Seve Ballesteros and Sergio Garcia in winning his national title, the pressure seemed to have got to Rahm when his tee-shot on the par-three 17th appeared destined for the water.

But unlike the ball of Nacho Elvira, the countryman who emerged as his strongest challenger, it somehow stayed on the bank and, after birdieing the 18th, Rahm celebrated his third European Tour win by hugging his grandmother on the green.

“It’s been the hardest Sunday I’ve ever had in any tournament I’ve won because the crowd wanted it so much and I wanted it so much,” Rahm said.