Poulter’s putt on Texas spot
IAN POULTER revels in the dramatic as a rule but even he would not have chosen to gamble his place at golf’s top table on the outcome of one event.
Such is the hole the flamboyant Poulter has landed himself in after missing a 12ft birdie putt at the last which would have kept his PGA Tour card at the RBC Heritage tournament.
Life has not been kind to Poulter of late. He has recently closed down his golf clothing business because of unsustainable losses.
If he was also to lose his playing privileges in the United States, after using a medical exemption for the past few months, it would be a double blow for Poulter who has drifted to 190 in the world rankings.
His future has boiled down to this week’s Texas Open, where he needs to earn $30,624 to retain his card after fluffing his lines with a final-round 73 at Hilton Head on Sunday night.
“I’m a little hot under the collar. I’m not disappointed I didn’t get the job done in terms of finishing where I need to finish but it could have been a victory and I let it slip,” said Poulter, who finished 13th as trick-shot specialist Wesley Bryan edged out Luke Donald for his first win. “I pride myself on being a good putter but the flat stick just didn’t do what I needed to do.
“I didn’t close out any of the putts that I expected to close out and subsequently ended up with a score that wasn’t good enough.
“I feel comfortable with my game but I missed putt after putt after putt. I need to continue to work harder on the putting, less on the rest of the game.”
If Poulter does not hit his survival mark at the Texas Open – equivalent probably to a top-30 finish – he will have to get the begging bowl out and rely on sponsors’ invitations to compete in PGA Tour events for the rest of the season.
Then it would be a trip to qualifying school to try to earn a place on the second-tier web.com tour for a season and earn promotion back to the PGA Tour that way. It is a grim prospect for the Ryder Cup star.
It need not be the end of the world as his former European team-mate Edoardo Molinari proved in Morocco on Sunday.
The Italian, who plunged as low as No 961 in the world rankings in December, emerged with his first win since 2010 at the Trophee Hassan II after scrapping for his European Tour card at Q-school for the last two years. But, at 41, it would be a test of how much fire remains in Britain’s struggling streetfighter.