IF IAN Poulter, the newly crowned Accenture Matchplay champion and new world number five, could be forgiven for allowing thoughts of majors and such like to realistically enter his mindset as he took part in the filming of a new advertising campaign for his club manufacturer Cobra yesterday morning, there were rather more worrying concerns for another member of the vanquished European Ryder Cup team of two years ago.
While the Englishman catapulted to a career-high fifth in the official world rankings, Ulsterman Graeme McDowell slipped to 49th. The significance of that drop is McDowell is on tenterhooks as he clings on to a place in the world’s top-50 which would earn him a spot in the no-cut WGC-CA Championship over the Blue Monster course in Doral in a fortnight’s time.
And with two cut-off points – next Monday and then the Monday immediately before the CA – before that final field is determined, McDowell has had some good news after receiving a sponsor’s invite into next week’s Honda Classic on the US Tour. He will at least have an opportunity to get back into that elite field if, as seems likely, he drops out of the top-50 after this week’s Phoenix Open.
McDowell, a first-round casualty in the Accenture, decided not to go chasing an invite into Phoenix and, instead, is prepared to take his chance in the Honda if it comes to that, insisting his game and putting is in very good shape. “If I get into Doral, well and good. If I don’t, I will just keep plugging away.”
The Honda Classic will actually mark the return to action for the three Irish players who competed in the Accenture, with Rory McIlroy and Pádraig Harrington also scheduled to compete there the week ahead of the CA Championship, the second WGC event of the season.
Poulter’s win in the first WGC of the year, the Accenture Matchplay, brought many rewards for the Englishman, who just a couple of seasons ago prompted guffaws in the general golfing public when arguing in a magazine interview he was capable of contesting the world’s number one spot with Tiger Woods.
The quote, which put Poulter into hot water and resulted in Woods calling him “number two”, was – “the trouble is I don’t rate anyone else (other than Woods). Don’t get me wrong, I really respect every professional golfer but I know I haven’t played to my full potential and when that happens it will be just me and Tiger.”
At that time, he was ranked 23rd in the world but now Poulter has moved to number five, sits atop the European Tour’s money list and – with Lee Westwood at number four and Paul Casey at number six in the world rankings – believes it is time for them to win major. No English player has won a major since Nick Faldo’s win in the 1996 US Masters.
“It’s about time the guys that have put themselves in positions four, five and six in the world, I guess, should step up to the plate and hopefully deliver on that,” said Poulter, who claimed his Accenture win – his first on American soil – was “another goal achieved, and hopefully we can now set our goals a little higher to kick on the for the rest of the year.”
Poulter, who required a somewhat controversial “wild card” pick from Faldo to get his place on the European team at Valhalla in 2008 where he went on to be the team’s top points earner, has now also moved to second – behind Westwood – on both the world points and European points standings for the team at Celtic Manor in October.
Of his 4 and 2 win over Casey, Poulter remarked: “I’ve never felt more comfortable on a golf course and my short game has been as good as it has ever been. The past 12 months, it’s been up there with the best of them.”
Poulter’s improvement since he made his remarks about challenging Woods for the number one spot include a runner-up finish to Harrington in the 2008 British Open and a runner-up finish in the Players. Reflecting on that comment, Poulter said: “That’s all in the past. I just felt that if I could deliver what I believe I could, then I could put myself in a good situation. I’ve certainly done that over the last 18 months and I’ve certainly delivered (in the Accenture). It’s so nice to see myself at number five and get higher and higher up the world rankings and hopefully I can keep going in that same direction.”
And while the prospects of replacing Woods don’t seem as far fetched now, although a more circumspect Poulter remarked: “I’m not so sure it is up for grabs. I just think for a while, until Tiger comes back to play golf, obviously he’s going to be dropping world ranking points so guys will be getting closer and closer to that number one spot.”
