A victory on The European Tour International Schedule can often bring a lump to the throat, but Ian Poulter had one even before he began his first round in The Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open. In fact, he had two and he claimed they felt as big as cricket balls.
Tonsilitis is the medical term for the condition he took with him to the spectacular Wentwood Hills course, but anyone who witnessed the Englishman’s arrival would have diagnosed alongside it, a serious case of flamboyance.
He roared up to the luxurious hotel in a red, open-topped Ferrari, fashioning a personalised number plate, with his tousled hair streaked red in honour of Arsenal’s victory in the FA Cup Final at the nearby Millennium Stadium in Cardiff 12 days earlier.
However, no-one could see the most vividly red part of his ensemble - his throat. One sight of it might have persuaded tournament officials to allow him to withdraw.
But Poulter had long been a martyr to his tonsils and since he had won the Moroccan Open in 2001 with the same glands inflamed, he felt it was worth the effort. He played in the Pro-Am on Wednesday and went straight to bed afterwards, downing a dose of the antibiotics that are his constant companions on Tour.
He felt no better the following morning when he reported for his 8.30am tee-time but was determined to give his recently refurbished swing another outing. What transpired was as big a surprise to the 2000 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year as it was to anyone else.
Several big names were kept away by injury and other commitments but there were many whose chances were rated better than those of Poulter who had narrowly missed qualifying for The 2001 European Ryder Cup Team but who had not enjoyed the best of starts to the 2003 season as he worked on his swing realignment.
Undisputed favourite was Colin Montgomerie, who had been showing signs of improvement in his build up to the US Open Championship, and who had certainly brought plenty of confidence with him. “Having won the English, Scottish and Irish Opens I thought this was a great opportunity to complete the set,” said the Scot who had come fresh from a top ten finish in the Volvo PGA Championship the previous week.
This was fighting talk from the man who knew there was a strong Welsh contingent bidding to keep the title at home for the first time. One was Ian Woosnam, who had also played encouraging golf at Wentworth Club, and another was Ryder Cup hero Phillip Price, this week a local hero as his house is no more than a ten minutes drive from the course.
So few eyes were on Poulter as he began to fashion the first of four exceptional rounds during which he was never headed at the top of the leaderboard. His 65 on that first day saw him share the lead with Australia’s Nick O’Hern and he confessed at his press conference that he had gone out with no expectations other than it would hurt every time he swallowed.
But his tonsils turned out to be his best friends. He had taken five weeks out of his season earlier in the year in order to re-fashion his swing under the guidance of David Leadbetter. In six events since then he had made only one cut. “Perhaps, I’d been trying too hard,” he said. “Today, I didn’t try hard at all. I was only swinging at 80 per cent and I hit some great shots.”
He continued to do so and found the strength to beat off two determined challenges on his way to the trophy. Neither came from Montgomerie who struggled so much on the greens that he drove 130 miles home on Thursday evening to get a new putter. That didn’t work either and he missed the cut.
The challenge from Price came on the second day when the Welshman produced a solid 66 to lie two shots behind Poulter. A course record 63 in the third round by Jarrod Moseley of Australia brought him into the reckoning but Poulter, despite one or two wobbles, kept his rivals at bay and broke their hearts when he scored the only eagle of the tournament on the testing 621 yard 11th hole in the final round.
“Yes, my throat’s a lot better,” he said, when he celebrated moving from 135th to 14th on the Volvo Order of Merit. He might have even managed a song in the Ferrari on the way home.
Peter Corrigan
