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BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

May 25, 2006

Ian Poulter

VIRGINIA WATERS, ENGLAND

Q. What happened at 16 when you got your yardages wrong?

IAN POULTER: 16 was one of his oversights. You look from ten paces away at what you think is a red dot and because the dots are either red or yellow but surrounded with a red or yellow line. If you are not standing right on top of it, I guess it's an easy mistake to make. Unfortunately the pair of us made the same mistake. That's a 30 yard discrepancy. Went from what I thought I played a perfect golf shot to being 30 yards short. It's a shame, great shame really. Any other hole, you probably are going to spot a 30 yard difference, but because that bunker is way short of that green, you haven't got any perception of how far that flag is.

Q. What did you say when the shot landed

IAN POULTER: I still didn't even know. I still thought the shot was fine. Because the bunker covers the pin, you can't see the ball land. And as I hit it, I thought it was fine. It landed, didn't see it bounce, and I just said, oh, they are not clapping, so I guess it's like 20 foot short, 25 short. And it's actually 30 yards short.

Q. You last weekend behind you very successfully.

IAN POULTER: We're on this week, aren't we?

Q. We are indeed.

IAN POULTER: Excellent. I played a nice round today. This is this week. I'm in good form, have been for a while, so I'm looking forward to three more good rounds.

Q. You backed off it on 16, the second?

IAN POULTER: Didn't even realise I did. No, it wasn't anything.

Q. Was your group on the clock?

IAN POULTER: It's tricky. A couple of times if there's casual water around and you manage to hit it on a spot in a couple of holes in a row where you've got casual water.

Q. How many times were you on the clock?

IAN POULTER: I don't know - I'm not going to get caught for bad timing. We were on the clock a couple of times but it's not I don't really pay any attention to it because I'm not struggling to get my shots in 40 seconds.

Q. The bunker shot on 16, was that a bad lie or something?

IAN POULTER: The bunkers are wet. They have taken an awful lot of water in the last couple days and they are not you know, they are still a decent surface. But you just don't know how much water is lying just underneath the top surface. So therefore, you know, you can get the sole of the club skipping off the hard wet packed sand just underneath the top, where they have just been lightly raked. That's what happened.

Q. Is that what happened on 18 as well?

IAN POULTER: No. On 18 actually come out of this pitch mark, it was on the upslope and it was sitting in a lot of fresh, fluffy sand, so the opposite, quite the opposite. And it's just how you play the shot. It wasn't that bad to be perfectly honest with you. It wasn't a great lie, but you know, it's a tricky shot off the upslope.

Q. One of the others said there were no short irons out there today, all 3 4 and 5 irons, do you agree with that or not really?

IAN POULTER: No, there's enough short irons. There's plenty. You've got 5, 6,- no 6 and 7- they are pretty short irons, 8 or 9 iron. There's enough short irons. I think it's quite nice to be 4 wood, 3 wood, 5 wood into some of those holes, it's a challenge.

It's a flagship golf tournament and we should be playing on a tough golf course. So certainly moving the tees back on some of these holes, it does make you think instead of just hitting 3 iron off the tee. It's good. The changes have done the course wonders and hopefully you'll see that in some of the scores.

Q. When was the last time you made a mistake like 16?

IAN POULTER: Can't remember. Can't remember. It happens rarely, very rare, especially both of you making it. And normally you pick it up, you've got two books. I've got a book, he's got a book. Normally when you call the yardage out, you just turn around and say, what are you talking about, and you correct yourself. But to both make the same mistake, it was obviously a visual thing. We both thought it was on the right dot otherwise we both wouldn't have made the same mistake. Really unfortunate.

Q. Do you think you are close to putting four good rounds together.

IAN POULTER: I'm in great form. Well, just look at the last three weeks, four weeks; I'm on the board. Unfortunately I haven't managed to finish it off. I'm on the board. I haven't forgotten how to finish so it's just making sure you stay patient and concentrate.

Q. Patience been tested like never before?

IAN POULTER: Well, I'm always hot headed. Yeah, I mean, it tests you, it does.

Q. Did you control the hot head after the mistake?

IAN POULTER: Today, yeah. What can you do? I'm not going to stand in the middle of the fairway throwing the clubs about or getting upset. You could. It's the start of the week, it's not Sunday. I might be a little bit more frustrated if it was Sunday afternoon. But Thursday morning, there's no drama.

Q. What's the small missing ingredient at the moment to stop you from finishing it off?

IAN POULTER: Don't know. I'd quite like to find it right now.

You know, it's nothing, a little bit of frustration. If you're off the lead, you're pressing a little bit and it's tricky to do that. You know, it's a funny old game, you can somehow not try very hard at all and go and shoot 5 under par, and all of a sudden when you really want to shoot a decent score, a couple of bad lies or whatever and it starts getting on top of you and it's difficult.

Q. Where are you playing the qualifier for the US Open?

IAN POULTER:. Ohio.

Q. Will you play Memorial?

IAN POULTER: I am.

End of FastScripts.

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