MOLINARI MAKES A SPLASH
Italian’s thrilling round shakes up Augusta
One of the quainter Masters traditions is the necessity, on arrival, to have a round of golf with a member of Augusta national. It gives the players the opportunity to meet a variety of octogenarian white, wealthy Republicans.
Which is nice, because that’s what most of them will be, in a few decades anyway.
Ian Poulter played his 18 holes with Lou Holtz, in many ways the stereotypical Augusta green jacket. Holtz is white, 82, an active Republican and a supporter of Donald Trump.
In 2006, he was required to apologise for calling Hitler a ‘great leader’ in a joke about Rich Rodriguez, the college football coch at the University of Michigan.
What separates Holtz from many of his fellow members, however, is a background in elite sport. Holtz was a very successful college football coach and later became a colourful analyst of the game. He is famed for his motivational speeches and pithy words of encouragement.
‘no- one has ever drowned in sweat,’ said Holtz. You’ll still find that on the walls of some changing rooms.
And, when they hey played, Holtz detected in Poulter r a player in need of a pep talk. So he delivered one. He thought Poulter didn’t believe he could win at Augusta. Seeing his game, Holtz z begged to differ
And by the time ime Poulter left the 13th green yesterday as outright leader six under par, so did a few others.
‘If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven’t done anything today,’ says Holtz.
And while Poulter could not do enough to keep that lead overnight, he was true to the sentiment at least. Being high on the leaderboard after 36 holes is, by definition, better than being there after 18.
Poulter shot 71. not as good as Thursday’s 68 but enough to ensure he stayed close to the leaders.
It has been a wonderful 48 hours for Poulter who this time last year had tto win the Houston Open Ope —the last event before be Augusta — just ju to earn the right r to be here. He had fallen to 220 in the world rankings three years ago but now resides r at 33. Seeing in the way superior rio players have struggled stru around this course cours — Justin Rose, the woworld no1 ( right), spent much of the day in the shadow of a missed cut — Poulter’s battle for supremacy at the age of 43 was hugely impressive.
He is another of those players, like Colin Montgomerie, who seems destined to be remembered for his ferocious performances as a team player in the Ryder Cup.
He has won 20 tournaments, but no Majors. Going into this tournament, Poulter and Paul Casey were tied as having played most Majors, 59, without winning.
Yet while Casey went home after a dismal display, this was Poulter as we see him every other year. Cussed, competitive, defiant. not as accurate as on day one, but he made huge saves, huge recoveries and remained in contention when others may have been crushed by the competition.
Poulter dropped a shot on the first, finding a fairway bunker from the tee, but got it back immediately with a birdie at the second.
From there, he delivered an immensely consistent run of nine straight pars — a stretch in which he spurned several birdie opportunities, but also dug deep to keep a bogey off his scorecard.
Had this been a Ryder Cup there would have been a swathe of images of Poulter roaring, fist pumping, in front of an equally boisterous crowd.
But this is the Masters, so he played it straight.
His attire has become more conservative with age anyway, but in his plain black shirt and grey checked trousers, he was close to unrecognisable, given his flamboyant past.
His golf wasn’t, though. An understated groan and a muttered ‘ah, my word’ greeted an iron shot into a bunker on the seventh. His recovery from the sand, however, was magnificent. He found a bunker on the eighth, too, but then got out with such flair he was cursing a misread birdie putt.
As America knows, Poulter at his best never knows when he is beaten and while a strokeplay tournament is rarely that same emotional ride — and certainly not on day two — there were glimpses here of obstinate resolve.
At the ninth, tenth and 11th, he made testing putts to save par. He could have given his score back in that stretch and several years ago, he might have.
Here he clung on, kept his nerve, kept his hot breath on the necks of leaders who were now wobbling themselves, bided his time, made his charge.
His tee shot at the short 12th was perfect, sitting down just as Poulter instructed, pin high for birdie. He drained it.
On the 13th, he got too much off the tee, but recovered to sink a
birdie putt for the outright lead. Molinari soon joined him there on six under, and Poulter gave one back at the next — missing right up the slope — but the point was made.
Whatever coach Holtz said, Poulter’s game was backing him up. He was playing as if he believed, as if he was comfortable in the company.
Maybe the event had a Ryder Cup feel, too, so many Americans in contention. They bring out the best in him, always have.
As did a statistic he saw on television prior to the event. Players of his age have a three per cent chance of winning, it said.
Poulter sounded a little put out. ‘Yeah, three per cent, apparently, according to everyone else,’ he said. ‘ I’m happy, I’m confident. I mean. I’m as confident as I’m ever going to be with a three percent chance of winning.’
A few holes behind, compatriot Rose was enduring a torrid afternoon.
Whoever he played with before this tournament began, Rose certainly looked in need of further mentoring. Every shot brought a discussion, nothing seemed imbued with certainty. As the cut veered between +3 and +4 so Rose’s future participation swayed with it.
He has never missed the cut here yet finding water twice flips the script and Rose’s game was doing its best to give him the weekend off.
As confidence deserted him he found a magnolia bush on the 18th, hacking out but slipped back to four over. It was 2002 the last time the top-ranked golfer walked off with a green jacket, but nobody expected this calamity. Rose has finished in the Masters top ten five times and in three of the last four years. Yet a quite beautiful tee shot on the quite beautiful 12th was a rarity — evidence of the player Rose can be, rather than the player he looked.
Poulter, meanwhile, was every inch the player coach Holtz identified. One with a three per cent chance of winning, unless you actually saw him play.