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BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

September 9, 2010

Ian Poulter

LEMONT, ILLINOIS

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Ian Poulter, thanks for joining us today after a 5-under 66. If we could perhaps start with some opening comments. Good first round for you.
IAN POULTER: Nice first round. Not a very nice first hole, mind you.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: I wasn't going to mention it.
IAN POULTER: I think I'll have to get it over and done with now.
It's a shame; I hit a poor tee shot off the first. Next shot in the front right bunker, hit it a little clean, and a few more shots later I walk off with double.
But from there on in, I played very solid. Very happy to make two birdies on the back nine, the two hard par-3s with 4-iron.
Holed a nice kind of 70-foot putt on 14 and followed up with an eagle on 15, and from there kind of got myself back into position.
Birdied 17, 18. Chip-in on 18 from about 20 yards. And then my round was underway. Very happy.

Q. How difficult is it to shake off a double at the first? Is it kind of a jarring thing? Does it take a while to get over it? Obviously you got right back into it.
IAN POULTER: Obviously it wasn't that difficult, but I was glad the 10th green and 11th tee was about a 240-yard walk, so I had enough time to defuse the situation myself and carry on with business. Yeah, it's not easy. Double bogey is not how you want to start the third FedEx event. I suppose any good way of looking at it is there's 71 holes to go. I bounced back pretty good.

Q. I apologize for not doing my homework. Where are you on the points list right now?
IAN POULTER: 44.

Q. So you've got to kind of keep the --
IAN POULTER: Top 10.

Q. You know your situation?
IAN POULTER: Yes, sir.

Q. Does it change the way you play at all, go more flag hunting or add it up at the end and hope it's good enough?
IAN POULTER: Well, the way I look at it is I've either got a week off before the Ryder Cup or I've got two. It's plain and simple as that. I bogeyed the last hole here last year to miss TOUR Championship by 1/16 of a shot for the season.

Q. That's fair.
IAN POULTER: Yeah, that kind of works out. I finished on the same score as John Senden, but they had to take it down to a decimal point. I don't want decimal points this year. I'm going to win this golf tournament, and I want to win at East Lake and I want to go and enjoy myself at the Ryder Cup, so that's my goal.

Q. It's so wide open, the Playoffs. Could you compare this year to past years, and is it more exciting?
IAN POULTER: I guess it's exciting because it was pretty bunched before we went into the Playoffs as opposed to one or two guys that had gotten themselves so far ahead. So I guess looking at it that way, you know, it's still volatile. I mean, it's worth five times a regular season win. Guys have gone from 90th on the list right up to top 5. You know, it's volatile.
They've got guys moving and jostling places pretty hard. It's difficult. You can play great all season, you can play poor for two weeks and you'll be sitting at home with your feet up having a beer watching the rest of the golf. So you have to play well.

Q. What do you remember from your first Ryder Cup shot from two sessions ago, the moments leading up to it or whatever discussions you might have had with whoever you were paired with that day and how your pulse rate was?
IAN POULTER: Pulse rate was pretty high, to be honest. It was interesting getting the ball on the tee. You know, silly as that may sound, if you actually get up close -- I didn't play on the Friday, but if you get up close to some of the guys when they're trying to put the ball on the tee peg, you will see their hands shaking. You know, you're fired up. The adrenaline is rushing, and your nerves are going, and you know what, that first tee shot is not very nice, so just get up and hit it really hard.
It's amazing. There's no other experience like it. I've been excited since February pretty much knowing I've in the side, and I cannot wait to get there. It's just unique. There's no other tournament. Add all the four majors together, we're playing for no money, it's just pure passion.

Q. Do these FedEx events still kind of have to carve their niche to be about as special as say winning a major, winning the Ryder Cup, that kind of thing?
IAN POULTER: Well, they won't compare to winning a major because it's just not quite the same, or they won't compare to a Ryder Cup. What they've done is they've created some drama at the end of the season, which I think is good. Are they going to have a look at the points and see how fair it is for a guy to play great all year and play poorly for two weeks and move back so far? They might take another look.
But the FedEx are a totally different scenario. You can't compare it to a major. You certainly can't compare it to a Ryder Cup.

Q. How tough is it at this point as you start to get close to the Ryder Cup to sort of put that excitement on the back burner and concentrate on this event until you get over to the Ryder Cup?
IAN POULTER: In some respects I'm kind of warming up right now. You know, I'm trying to get my game in shape straight away. You know you have to make tons of birdies, you have to make the odd eagle, and that's what my scorecard was full of today. I was warming up on the range today going through some thought process of how I was preparing for the Ryder Cup and trying to get in that kind of mindset, making as many birdies as I did in the Ryder Cup last time around, if you can somehow get into that frame of mind, the mindset, that anything is possible. You can make ten birdies in a round of golf.
So I guess I kind of got myself into that mindset after the 10th hole. But no, I'm warming up for it right now. I'm trying to get myself in the groove. I want to perform again. It was special last time, and it will be special again.

Q. In your Ryder Cup experience, have you found that the captains have played a big role, or do you think it comes down more to the players, regardless of the pairings or the order or what have you?
IAN POULTER: Captain is definitely going to play some kind of a role, but at the end of the day, when you stand on that first tee, there's not an awful lot the captain can do. He might intervene at some stage, but hopefully the players don't need that to happen and you can just go out there and play the golf we know we can play. I think the captain should allow you to do so. That's my past experience.

Q. Also, there's a notion that you guys don't play a lot of match play. I mean, obviously you have the match play event in February that you did so well in, but do you guys play match play when you play practice rounds or even funny games with others, or is it true that you really don't play it much?
IAN POULTER: We really don't play much match play at all to be honest, not apart from WGC Match Play. Yeah, you might go and play with your friends for 50 bucks, 100 bucks, but that means -- I mean, it just doesn't mean anything. That's not match play compared to what it is then on the first tee and you know you have to bring a point home for your captain, otherwise you're going to be mad. So that's a little different.

Q. I was curious whether you watched the Corey Pavin press conference on Tuesday or what you thought of the four picks and how the two teams match up, who's favored, sort of your view on all that.
IAN POULTER: I didn't see any of it. It turned out they were the four picks that I would have chosen. Guys were discussing it for a few days, and we were all discussing what picks we would have, and I think they were kind of most people's picks.
I think they've got a strong side, but yet I think we also have a very strong side. I think it's a young team, and I think we've got a great chance on home soil to bring the trophy back.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Ian Poulter, thank you.

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