Ian Poulter

Ian Poulter
Personal information
Full name	Ian James Poulter
Born	10 January 1976 (1976-01-10) Hitchin, Hertfordshire
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	189 lb (86 kg; 13.5 st)
Nationality	England
Residence	Orlando, Florida, U.S. Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire
Career
Turned professional	1995
Current tour(s)	PGA Tour (joined 2005) European Tour (joined 2000)
Professional wins	15
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	1
European Tour	11
Japan Golf Tour	1
Asian Tour	1
PGA Tour of Australasia	1
Challenge Tour	1
Other	1
Best results in Major Championships
Masters Tournament	T10: 2010
U.S. Open	T12: 2006
The Open Championship	2nd: 2008
PGA Championship	T9: 2006
Achievements and awards
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	2000

Ian Poulter at the 2009 Telus World Skins Game, Lévis, Canada

Ian James Poulter (born 10 January 1976) is an English professional golfer who is a member of the world's top two professional golf tours, the U.S.-based PGA Tour and the European Tour. He has previously been as high as number five in the world rankings. He is the touring professional for Woburn Golf and Country Club which is situated in Bedfordshire.

Early career

Born in Hitchin, Poulter took up the game aged 4 when his single-handicap father, Terry, gave him a cut-down 3-wood. His older brother Danny is also a professional golfer.

Unable to get a place as a pro at a private club, Poulter became the assistant pro and golf shop manager at the Chesfield Downs Golf Club. There he was forced by his boss to pay a full green fee every time he wanted to play in a competition. His handicap hence stayed at four, because he did not play in competitions.

Professional career

Poulter turned professional in 1996 aged 19, gaining his first win at the 1999 Open de Côte d'Ivoire on the European Tour's second tier Challenge Tour; he won promotion to the European Tour itself via the qualifying school later that year. In his first season, he claimed the Italian Open title and was the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year for 2000. Further wins followed in each of the next four seasons, most prestigiously the season ending "tour championship" the Volvo Masters in 2004. He was in the top ten on the Order of Merit in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2009. In 2010, he finished 4th on the Order of Merit, his highest placing so far.

After narrowly missing a place in the 2002 European Ryder Cup team, Poulter was a member of the victorious squad in 2004, where he officially scored the winning points for his team. This entitled him to take up membership of the PGA Tour in 2005, and he has divided his time between the two tours since then.

At the 2008 Masters Tournament, Poulter made a hole-in-one at the 16th hole at Augusta National in the first round. At the 2008 Open Championship, Poulter had the clubhouse lead on the last round before being beaten by defending champion Pádraig Harrington. In the 2008 Ryder Cup, Poulter was the highest points scorer on either side as he scored 4 of Europe's 11.5 points. Europe lost the Ryder Cup 16.5-11.5.

In the 2009 Players Championship, Poulter finished in sole possession of second place at eight under-par, four shots behind the winner, Henrik Stenson. In November 2009, Poulter won the Barclays Singapore Open at the Sentosa Club.

Poulter moved into the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings in January 2010 with a second place finish at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship. In February 2010, he won his first tournament on U.S. soil, beating fellow Englishman Paul Casey 4&2 in the final of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona. The win moved him to 5th in the world rankings. In November 2010, he won his second title of the year with a one-stroke victory in the UBS Hong Kong Open.

On 23 February 2011, in Marana, Arizona, Poulter became the first defending champion in nine years to be eliminated in the first round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. He did however enjoy greater success in the European Tour's own match play event, the Volvo World Match Play Championship where he won the title beating Ryder Cup team mate Luke Donald 2&1 in the final. He had previously beaten the world number one Lee Westwood, Francesco Molinari and Nicolas Colsaerts to get to the final. This was Poulter's second tournament win in a match play event and eleventh European Tour victory. As a result of his win Poulter moved up from 22nd to 14th in the Official World Golf Rankings.

Clothing

Poulter is well known for his eccentric dress sense, inspired by his mother who managed the Letchworth branch of UK women's fashion chain Dorothy Perkins. His most famous pieces include trousers featuring the famous Claret Jug, worn at both the 2005 and 2006 Open Championships. Commentating for the BBC, Seve Ballesteros jibed that this was "the closest [Poulter] would ever get to it". He will also often match his sunglasses to his shirt and hat colour, in addition to wearing brightly coloured and patterned trousers.

Poulter is well known for being an avid fan of the London-based football club Arsenal FC. He has on several occasions appeared with the team's crest on his shoes, and he even controversially wore the team's shirt during an event, gaining widespread ire for flying in the face of golfing tradition. (immediately after the event the rule was changed to stop future players wearing football jerseys).

In addition to his golfing career, Poulter launched Ian Poulter Design (IJP) in the summer of 2007.

Controversy

At the Mercedes-Benz Championship in September 2007, Poulter smashed a tee marker in a show of frustration and was fined. Also, in 2006 Poulter paid a £5,000 fine after verbally abusing a marshal at the Irish Open.

In the March issue of Golf World (UK) Poulter was quoted saying "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."

In April 2010, Poulter was strongly rebuked for using an anti-Semitic slur in one of his Twitter posts. He has since apologised.

Prior to the USA vs England World Cup Match Poulter tweeted "sorry to disagree but you guys havent got a chance against england, its like england vs usa in basketball, sorry but its the truth."

In October 2010, Poulter tweeted videos of him with the Ryder Cup trophy at his Florida home, including a video of him and his children eating cereal out of the trophy sparking controversy.

At the 2011 Masters, Poulter predicted that Tiger Woods would "miss out on a top five finish," (in reference to Woods finding it difficult to return to form). In fact, Woods finished tied for 4th.

Personal life

Poulter is married to Katie; the couple have three children, and live in Orlando, Florida. The couple also have a home in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.

Poulter is an avid car collector, and along with his 2008 purchase of a Ford GT, he has a Bentley Continental GT, a Ferrari California, and has owned a Ferrari, Nissan Skyline and an Aston Martin DB9.

He lost to Jimmy Fallon playing Tiger Woods Wii game on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

As of December 2011 Poulter has 1.23 million followers on Twitter, which is the second most on the PGA Tour to Tiger Woods with 1.55 million followers.

Sponsorships

Poulter currently has an endorsement with the following companies: Footjoy, Mutual of Omaha, Titleist, Cobra, EA Sports, Mastercard, Oakley, Fathead, Audemars Piguet, Marquis Jet.

Professional wins (15)

PGA Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runner-up
1	21 Feb 2010	WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship	4 and 2		Paul Casey

European Tour wins (11)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runner(s)-up
1	29 Oct 2000	Italian Open	−21 (66-67-65-69=267)	1 stroke	Gordon Brand, Jnr
2	15 Apr 2001	Moroccan Open	−15 (71-67-69-70=277)	2 strokes	David Lynn
3	3 Nov 2002	Italian Open	−19 (61-67-69=197)	2 strokes	Paul Lawrie
4	1 Jun 2003	Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open	−18 (65-67-68-70=270)	3 strokes	Darren Fichardt, Jonathan Lomas, Jarrod Moseley
5	10 Aug 2003	Nordic Open	−22 (68-67-65-66=266)	1 stroke	Colin Montgomerie
6	31 Oct 2004	Volvo Masters Andalucia	−7 (71-67-69-70=277)	Playoff	Sergio García
7	17 Sep 2006	XXXII Banco Madrid Valle Romano Open de Madrid Golf Masters	−22 (67-66-64-69=266)	5 strokes	Ignacio Garrido
8	1 Nov 2009	Barclays Singapore Open	−10 (66-64-72-72=274)	1 stroke	Liang Wen-chong
9	21 Feb 2010	WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship	4 and 2		Paul Casey
10	21 Nov 2010	UBS Hong Kong Open	−22 (67-60-64-67=258)	1 stroke	Simon Dyson, Matteo Manassero
11	22 May 2011	Volvo World Match Play Championship	2 and 1		Luke Donald

Challenge Tour wins (1)

• 1999 Open de Côte d'Ivoire

Japan Golf Tour wins (1)

• 2007 Dunlop Phoenix Tournament

Asian Tour wins (1)

• 2009 Barclays Singapore Open (co-sanctioned by the European Tour)

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (1)

• 2011 JBWere Masters

Other wins (1)

• 2010 The Shark Shootout (with Dustin Johnson)

Results in major championships

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
The Masters	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T31	T33	DNP	T13	T25	T20
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	T57	T12	T36	WD	T18
The Open Championship	T64	DNP	T50	T46	T25	T11	CUT	T27	2	CUT
PGA Championship	DNP	CUT	DNP	T61	T37	T47	T9	T23	T31	T19

Tournament	2010	2011
The Masters	T10	T27
U.S. Open	T47	CUT
The Open Championship	T60	CUT
PGA Championship	WD	T39

DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
Yellow background for top-10.

World Golf Championships

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runner(s)-up
2010	WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship	n/a	4 & 2	n/a	Paul Casey

Results timeline

Tournament	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Accenture Match Play Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	QF	4	R64	R16	R32
Cadillac Championship	NT1	DNP	T44	DNP	T18	T2	T16	T57
Bridgestone Invitational	T13	DNP	T33	DNP	T33	T13	T30	T16

Tournament	2009	2010	2011
Accenture Match Play Championship	R16	1	R64
Cadillac Championship	T13	T37	T45
Bridgestone Invitational	T15	T65	T68
HSBC Champions	T45	T13	T13

¹Cancelled due to 9/11
DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
NT = No Tournament
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances

• Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 2004 (winners), 2008, 2010 (winners)
• World Cup (representing England): 2001, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011
• Seve Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2003 (winners), 2005 (winners), 2011 (winners)

See also

• Golfers with most European Tour wins

External links

• Official website
• Ian Poulter Design
• Ian Poulter at the European Tour official site
• Ian Poulter at the PGA Tour official site
• Ian Poulter at the Japan Golf Tour official site
• Ian Poulter at the Official World Golf Ranking official site
• Ian Poulter on Twitter