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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 12, 2019

Ian Poulter

Augusta, Georgia

Q. Can you talk about what happened with Zach on 13?
IAN POULTER: Oh, you saw it, did you? Oh, it was a beauty. I thought he would get on the highlight. Now we have got the opportunity, I never looked at every shot, it will be interesting to see if they have got it on pretape so I can actually have a look at it. I was going for a drink in my bag and then I heard the ball clip and then clip the end of his club just on a practice swing, hit the tee marker and moved and we had a bit of a chuckle.
So it's probably the only hole you can do it and not get much of a, too much of a laugh because no one's there to have a laugh about it. But, yeah, it was a bit of a shock to him and all of us.

Q. Have you ever seen that before?
IAN POULTER: I've done it. We've all done it. It was just, it's just going to be quite interesting, it's going to be quite funny, because we can actually have a look at the highlights and view it. Have you guys seen it? On the re‑run? Love it. Can't wait.

Q. It's all over the internet.
IAN POULTER: Is it? Yes, I told him if it wasn't I'm going to be putting it on there anyway. It was quite funny, because he backed off and said, no, no, guys, it's okay, you can laugh, it was pretty funny. I mean, we were trying to hold it in, but he, we had to let it out. It was great.

Q. Can you talk about just the conditions this week. You played the golf course a lot, can you be a little bit more aggressive, because it seems a little on the softer side?
IAN POULTER: Yeah, I think that, I mean I think you can be more aggressive. I mean the rain we got this morning, it was quite heavy for probably 20 minutes at about 8:30 for 20 minutes, half an hour it was coming down pretty good. Definitely softened the course up. It doesn't take too much off the run in the fairways, but it definitely softened up from a second shot perspective.
And obviously because of that if you missed the green you can, again, you can use a little bit more loft and a little bit more spin and obviously try and get the ball to stop that way.
So even with that there were a couple, still some tricky pins out there and you have to be careful. 4 on 5 from the right‑hand side on some of these greens it's not easy if you short‑side yourself.

Q. Where is your confidence right now relative to where it might be when you've been in similar positions in majors before?
IAN POULTER: Three percent, apparently, according to everyone else. I've got a three percent chance. I'm happy, I'm confident, I mean I'm as confident as I'm ever going to be with someone who is got a three percent chance, so.

Q. Where does the three percent come from?
IAN POULTER: It was a stat shown on TV of 43‑year‑olds have got a three percent chance of winning this week.

Q. (No Microphone.)
IAN POULTER: Yeah, I didn't hit as many today. I was trying to, I was pressing on the odd occasion, missed a couple of greens, got myself a little out of position on a couple of tee shots and missed a couple of greens. But I haven't done a lot wrong.
I mean I had a 3‑putt on 14, which was disappointing. And apart from that I only had really a couple of mistakes this week. So I feel comfortable, I feel I'm hitting it well, I like the golf course, I know a lot about the course for certain pins. I'm just trying to be smart and not take myself out of the tournament, which I've done in the past.

Q. Did you think you were in trouble on 13 there on the third shot, after the second shot?
IAN POULTER: Yeah, I mean I've seen a lot of balls stay up on that grass bank. If it was three yards left it would have probably come back in the water.
So it was a bonus, it was a bonus birdie, really, from the second shot. I got the wind wrong, it was down from the 30 seconds when I stood over my shot and threw the grass up, it was down, but if you looked on the compass, it really should have been in off the left. So I got caught out there, silly mistake. I play the compass sometimes and not the way you feel, but that's a part of the golf course that can catch it, but we caught a break.

Q. Can you give us an insight into Molinari's golf game. It looks so unremarkable but yet obviously it is remarkable.
IAN POULTER: It's pretty darn good. He hits it straight, he's now got a fantastic short game and he holes lots of putts. So I mean that's the reason why he's got the Jug and he's good, he's really good.

Q. Is the short game improved a lot since he's been on TOUR?
IAN POULTER: His whole game has improved since he first come on TOUR, that's for sure. He's a major winner, he's won multiple events, the form he's been in in the last two years is quite incredible, and he's raised his game from an all‑around perspective and he's mentally stronger than what he was as well in the past. So he's got the whole package.

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