Beware the wounded Poulter
BY Bruce Young | Australasian PGA Tour | 2011 Australian Masters | Round Two | 16 Dec 2011
One of the great qualities of the venue for this week’s J.B. Were Masters, The Victoria Golf Club, is the potential it offers to make up for lost ground or to lose ground quickly.
It is a layout that gives with one hand but takes with the other. There are many birdie opportunities, more especially over the back nine, but, as several discovered today, it is often a case of one step forward and two steps back.
England’s Ian Poulter, at number 28 in the world, the second highest ranked player in this field, recovered from a relatively slow start to his round to birdie three of the last five holes to record a round of 68 and at 9 under he leads by two over Scottsdale based New South Welshman Matthew Giles and by three over the morning leader on day one, Ashley Hall.
Poulter was not feeling well today and described as much after his round. “I didn’t feel too good actually. I woke up this morning and wasn’t feeling too good at all must have been something I had to eat last night unfortunately and it showed out there today. I hit it terrible, getting myself out of position on a number of occasions.
“I felt a bit weak out there but my short game was on and I holed a few nice putts. To look back at that round I would have taken that score with certainly how I played.
“I will rest up tonight and hopefully have something good to eat tonight.”
“I was trying to eat as much as I could within reason. I didn’t really any to take tablets – so had plenty of energy drinks.”
Following his great morning round of 65 on Thursday, Poulter played in the more difficult afternoon conditions today although the blustery afternoon winds of yesterday did not return and generally the scoring on day two was significantly better.
Perhaps because the weakness he was suffering, Poulter took a while to get going today and it would take until the par five 9th before he recorded his first birdie. At that point he joined the lead established earlier in the day by Scottsdale based Sydneysider, Matthew Giles, and a resurgent former two time winner of the event, Peter Lonard.
Poulter would then birdied the short par three 14th followed a few holes later by another at the par five 17th and despite a horror drive at the last was able to scramble a birdie from the bunker well short of the green.
Lonard dropped three shots in succession before a birdie at his last hole of the day established some of the lost momentum as he heads into the weekend.
Despite the dropped shots late in his round, it represents a welcome return of form and fortune for one of Australia’s most prolific winners of domestic titles in the last ten years.
Giles played early on day two after he had produced the best of the afternoon rounds on day one and carried on with it when he moved to 4 under for the day through ten holes before late bogeys took the edge of his round.
“I had not played the course before this week so I played nine holes on Tuesday and played the afternoon Pro-Am on Wednesday. I hadn’t really played that much in Melbourne before either."
“It was a definitely much easier course this morning and the greens were a little bit softer and receptive,” he added when asked to compare the course he played on the respective opening days.
Giles has just completed his first full year on the Nationwide Tour but it was a tough one for him. "It was disappointing but although I didn’t play as well as I know I can I learnt a lot.
“There’s a lot more to professional golf than just putting the ball in the hole. You have to work out what works for you and how much time to spend at the course and when to get to a tournament site and all those sort of things.
Giles won the World Junior Championship in San Diego in 2006 and then played collegiate golf in the US where he is now based in Scottsdale in Arizona. He turned professional in 2010 but has lost the full status he had on the Nationwide Tour and will now have to fight for early re-ranking from his current conditional status.
Giles chose not to attend the PGA Tour School this year as injury late in the Nationwide Tour season as a back injury caused an early withdrawal from an event just prior to Stage One of Qualifying.
“I decided that where my game was at then it would be more beneficial to me to go back to my home in Scottsdale, hang out and get myself ready for the tournaments down here. It seems as if that decision is working out ok so far.”
Six players including Lonard are tied at 5 under and four behind the lead. Geoff Ogilvy and Brett McCullough and Geoff McCullough produced the best rounds of the day (66) to be in that group along with Kieran Pratt, Nathan Green and Australia’s Japan Tour success story, Brendan Jones.
There is a strong New Zealand connection to those at 4 under as Doug Holloway, Mahal Pearce and the Auckland based Australian, Peter Fowler, are in that group along with Jarrod Lyle.
34 players are within eight shots of the lead and 33 within six shots of second position. Given the volatility of scoring on this outstanding layout then the weekend is shaping as something quite special.
For those who finished outside the cut mark of 2 over however they will play no further part.
Discuss this article in our forums
