Poul’ position
Tumultuous couple of weeks land veteran in Augusta field
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Beware of the free-wheeling golfer with a new lease on life and nothing to lose. Beware of Ian Poulter slipping on the green jacket as your 2018 Masters champion by week’s end at Augusta National. Don’t rule it out.
If Poulter — who until four days ago had never even won a stroke-play tournament on American soil — is to actually win the Masters, it would go down in tournament lore as one of the unlikeliest victories of all.
To s ay i t ’s been a t u mu l t u o u s t wo we e k s for Poulter doesn’t do justice to the word tumult.
Po u l t e r, the lateb l o o mi n g 42 -ye a r - old s e l f - ma d e pro from a small town in England, always has been one of those players who thrives in the chaos. He always has relished the role of villain in the Ryder Cup. He wears that outlandish look-at-me clothing. And he’s never shied away from ticking someone off with a brash comment or two.
So maybe the two-week roller-coaster ride he’s been on — which has included the crazy 11th-hour manner in which Poulter qualified for the Masters, winning last week’s Houston Open in a playoff to secure the final spot in the field — will serve him well this week.
Two weeks ago at the WGC Match Play, after winning a round-of-16 match, Poulter, who’s played the past 10 Masters and 12 of the past 13, was told by some reporters who’d been informed by the European Tour that he’d done enough to qualify for the Masters.
Then, 10 minutes before he was to play his quarterf inal match against Kevin Kisner, Poulter was informedrmed he’d been given bad information andnd he actu-actually needed to beat Kisnerner to get into the Masters. Rattled,ed, Poulter got crushed 8-and-6 by Kisnerisner and left Austin, Texas, furious.
He took the followingng Mon-Monday to decide whether he’dhe’d even bother to play Hous-ston, which would be his last chance to get into Augusta. He opted to play, shot 73 in the open-ing round and packed his bags to go home the next day becauseecause he expected to miss the cut.ut.
But Poulter shot 64-65-5-67 en route to winning Houstonton to qualify for his 13th Masters.rs. He made a 20-foot birdie puttutt on the 72nd hole to force a play-playoff with Beau Hossler andand won on the first playoff hole.ole. “It’s been bizarre,’’ Poulter said of his recent whirlwind. “I was frustrated with myself that I wasn’t getting the start that I wanted,’’ he said of the poor first round in Houston. “I packed my bags to potentially come home on Friday after my morning round [anticipating missing the cut], but managed to find something with the putting stroke which worked. And I kept that for three days.’’ Poulter, who’s made the cut in 11 of his 12 Masters and finished sixth in 2015 and seventh in 2012, said he has “zero expectations’’ for this week. “I have never pitched up to the Masters on a Tuesday a f ter noon,’ ’ he said. “I would never have done as little preparation as I’m about to do for this event. So as confident as I feel going into this week, I believe I’m unprepared, so let’s see if that unpreparedness works in my favor. Sometimes we’ve seen that in the past with players and it worked out well last week, hopefully it can work out well this week.” Even if not in the f ield, Poulter was planning to come to Augusta anyway to do some work as a TV commentator with Sky Sports. “So I’ve flipped that role, which is quite nice,’’ he said. He flipped it by not flipping out under the pressure in Houston. That 20-footer for birdie to force the playoff, which elicited a wild chest-thumping celebration from him, was reminiscent of Poulter making big putts at the Ryder Cup to crush the Americans’ will. “That’s what’s inside me,’’ he said. “When I’m able to put myself in a positiontion to do that and to do some g re at t hi ngs, I jj ust love the moment.’’ Poulter always has seemed made for those moments in Ryder Cup team plaplay. Maybe this was a breakthroubreakthrough for him in stroke play. MMaybe he wins his f irst cc a re e r major championschampionship this week. Can hh e ride the momenmomentum into Sundayday ninight? “I hope s o ,’ ’ PP oo uu l t e r said. “ThThere is always a little downer at some stage afteraf a win, so I hope iti comes at 7 p.m. on SSunday night just after I slip a [green] jacket on.’’