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CROWNE PLAZA INVITATIONAL AT COLONIALMay 22, 2015Ian PoulterFORT WORTH, TEXAS THE MODERATOR: Ian Poulter, thanks for joining us for a few minutes after a wet‑but‑successful 67 in Round 2 at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. I know you had to play in a lot of this, but I'm sure you're glad to be done and let the others do what they will in the afternoon. So just a few comments on the round today. IAN POULTER: Yeah. Again, I played nicely, struck the ball well. A couple of frustrating bogeys. To start the day I was only 18 feet from the pin. Should have been a 90 on that, 100 up‑and‑down. I don't get that up‑and‑down. But started to play the golf I played yesterday. And that's hit a lot of good shots. I changed my grip, meaning not the actual rubber grip, but the actual where I holed the putts on Wednesday. I looked at an old photograph, and I saw something that was slightly different, so I've gone back to the old feeling. I'm starting to hit my putts on my line, and that's always refreshing as a pro, to, one, read the putt and then start the ball on the line you think and they start to go in, and then obviously you gain a bit of confidence, and from there you're obviously going to make a few birdies. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions. Q. Obviously it's pouring out there right now, but how do the course conditions differ today than maybe they were yesterday and how is this course playing right now or at least when you were out there? IAN POULTER: We didn't get really any rain yesterday, but the course has taken a lot of rain, I think, in the last couple of weeks, and you know, the cell that's coming through right now and what's due over the next few days is going to be five inches of rain. The course was surprisingly firm from I was expecting, due to the forecast that I'd seen in previous weeks, so the course is really going to take a bit of a beating over the weekend. It's difficult for the guys obviously out there playing right now. I can't imagine them playing much more golf before the greens start to flood. There's a huge cell coming through, and I don't think there will be much more golf played out there this afternoon. So I'm just going to have to be patient, glad I got my round done, and obviously have a bit of lunch, feet up and wait and see what happens. Q. I know it's been a while for you here in Fort Worth. Could you just explain, there was a European Tour rule that didn't allow you to play here opposite a major, and now you can play this year. Can you just explain that? IAN POULTER: Not opposite a major. You have to play a home event, and the home event at the time was obviously Wentworth. I'm from the UK, and that's the biggest event in the UK for us. So that meant I obviously couldn't come and play golf. The rule hasn't really changed, although we've had an addition. The tournament that's been added at the back end of the season is the British Masters, which is five minutes from my house. I'm hosting the tournament this year at Woburn, at my home golf club. So that theoretically becomes my home tournament. So therefore, I don't have to play Wentworth. They would like me to play Wentworth. I personally would like to play Wentworth. I'll be honest. But it's a golf course which hasn't been too kind to me over the years. My performances haven't been very good there. The last time I was here I played pretty well, and obviously with that addition with that tournament allowed me to come back and play. Q. I don't know how much you pay attention, but you were like voted one of the most overrated golfers. Does that just fuel your fire more? Do you pay attention to what some people, outsiders say, I guess, so to speak? IAN POULTER: Do you think I pay a lot of attention to what people think, 1.89 million people? I mean seriously. Come on. It's water off a duck's back. I mean obviously Rickie went out there and obviously made amends to that comment and obviously, listen, I, of course, would like to go out there and play well. I've played well since the start of the year. Should have taken my chances, but I don't pay much attention to it. It's actually become quite funny, to be honest, so I take it a little bit tongue in cheek. I know my golf game, and I'm quite comfortable within myself. Q. Were you looking at photos specifically looking for help on your putting‑‑ IAN POULTER: No. Q. ‑‑ or did you just happen to see a photo? IAN POULTER: I'm building a guest house next door, and I was going through a lot of pictures and stuff to be able to put one in my office and two around the house. There's a lot of walls to fill. So I was just scrolling through boxes and getting stuff ready, because we go back to Europe soon. So I need to get some plans to go on the wall. And obviously I saw that winning picture, and I saw that, you know, one of the fingers on my left hand was in a slightly different position. So I tried it on Wednesday, it felt pretty good, and obviously it was pretty good yesterday and it's continued. So it's nice‑‑ the nice thing is I've been searching for something for several months. And this might be the thing that gets my putting back on track. Q. Is it a secret or can you tell us which finger was out of‑‑ IAN POULTER: It's my forefinger on my left hand. I've now moved it so it's actually slightly further. It's angled further down toward the shot. So it's almost more parallel to the shot than actually angled down. It's probably only a position of half an inch difference to what it was, but sometimes half an inch makes a big difference on a feel. Q. Do you remember what tournament that was, the photo? IAN POULTER: No. There was lots. I was going through a big box, and literally I wasn't paying much attention to the event that it was. I was just paying attention to actually looking, just thinking actually, you know, maybe my left forefinger is in a slightly different position to what it used to be. I can't remember which tournament. Q. And just the one thing about the overrated thing, have you and Rickie actually joked about it? IAN POULTER: Yeah. We laugh about it. We've had some fun on Twitter about it. We've had some bouncing back and forth. He's taking care of his business. It's time for me to take care of mine. Q. Do you pay attention to the scoreboard on days like this, because about the time you made your birdie was about the time Jordan was running into trouble. I just didn't know if you even saw‑‑ IAN POULTER: No. I was on 7, I think it was. I just looked up at the board. And I know Jordan had dropped a shot. But there's a little ways to go in the golf tournament. But obviously I'm a leaderboard watcher. I like to know what's going on around the golf course. It's always nice to know you're out there in front. THE MODERATOR: All right. Ian. Thanks for your time. We really appreciate you coming in. IAN POULTER: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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