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DUBAI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY DP WORLD

November 26, 2010

Ian Poulter

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Second Round 66. 9-Under. 135

RODDY WILLIAMS: Ian, very well played, terrific start out there, and you must be very pleased with your position after 36 holes.
IAN POULTER: Yeah, very, very pleased. Obviously carrying some form from last week, driving the ball in the fairway an awful lot. I think I missed one fairway today by a couple of inches. That was on the last hole. So I'm giving myself plenty of chances and I'm not really making any mistakes and that's obviously key to shooting a decent score.
RODDY WILLIAMS: Pretty exciting start from both of you this morning.
IAN POULTER: Early fireworks, early doors, it was good fun. All four of the birdie putts this morning were kind of 2-putts, I would say 12 to 14 feet, and the other two were from six feet. Two good shots were hit and Lee, too, he hit good golf shots and got rewarded by making a few birdies early.

Q. You seem to be sparking off of each other pretty well, and you're obviously aware that you've he's been Tweeting about your attire and your makeup?
IAN POULTER: We had a bit of fun last night. I basically said that there's no way we would clash on the course today. And he said, "I understand why, because I won't be able to work out what you're wearing so far back down the fairway," I did mention on the second hole as I caught him by ten yards, and on the next hole (smirking, tongue-in-cheek). It was good fun, I bit of friendly banter and we both played well.

Q. And the nose-thumb, that was something you clearly enjoyed.
IAN POULTER: Well, it was putt after putt after putt, or good shot after good shot. He made a great chip-in on 3, the third hole, and I kind of felt I needed to hole my putt and obviously given the no-no, it was funny.

Q. Can you remember what a bogey feels like?
IAN POULTER: Yeah, disappointing, last week, to be honest. Sunday's round on 18.

Q. But five of the last six, isn't it?
IAN POULTER: Yeah, it's five in the last six rounds, yeah.

Q. Someone else told me?
IAN POULTER: Did you nick it?

Q. Of that early birdie blitz, which was the best in your opinion, and why? Did you play any particularly really good shot in that early part of the round?
IAN POULTER: Well, 9-iron to kind of six feet on the first. Good bunker shot on the second to probably six or eight feet. Third hole is probably eight feet. And probably 15 feet -- I mean, the two on 4 was the best of the four. It was a 4-iron into the wind to about 15 feet.

Q. Have you ever gone five out of six rounds before?
IAN POULTER: No.

Q. Do you remember being on such a run?
IAN POULTER: Definitely not.

Q. What's it down to? Have you scrambled well or just hitting everything?
IAN POULTER: New driver. Putting it in position. The new white stick is working very well. So therefore, if you're going to drive it in the fairway an awful lot, then if you hit your irons pretty good, I mean, last week was a short course, so there was quite a lot of short irons, so that definitely helped last week.
But I have hit it exceptionally well the last two days.

Q. You mentioned a couple of weeks ago that it's getting much harder now to play the two tours and people may come to a stage where they might have to pick. Which one would you pick if you had to pick?
IAN POULTER: I'm not in that position so I don't need to pick right now (smiling). (Laughter).

Q. Politician.
IAN POULTER: Sorry. Going to be PC there.

Q. We won't tell.
IAN POULTER: Of course. (Laughing).

Q. The course came under a little bit of criticism a year ago, perhaps playing a little bit too easy. 9-under at the halfway stage suggests it's a little bit tougher now. Would you agree?
IAN POULTER: The scoring last year was exceptional. I think Lee was on another planet with 23-under par. You know, even practise this week, just reflected on that score. It's quite incredible.
It's not that easy a golf course. You do have to hit it solid off the tee to give yourself a decent look to hit it close. 23-under won't be reached this week.

Q. When did the driver go in the bag and is it the best one since the one that was pinched?
IAN POULTER: Yeah, it went in the bag Shanghai week. I practised with it the week before. Cobra made it up for me especially. They made 500 pieces. I'm sure they have all gone.

Q. Remind me, where was the one stolen?
IAN POULTER: The one, Shanghai, two years prior.

Q. What's behind the white?
IAN POULTER: I'm not sure to be honest. It's just a different paint job to be honest. It's the same driver I was using. They wanted a different look. No one had brought a white head, white shaft, white grip driver out before.

Q. There's not a technical reason for the white?
IAN POULTER: Behind that, I think they say it's more relaxing on the eye. White is apparently supposed to be more relaxing, so whether that's the case of me hitting more fairways in the last four weeks, then I'm not sure, but it's in play an awful lot. I'm hitting it very well.
So I don't know the scientific reason for white being better than black, but it's working.

Q. Useful when you've got a blind drive.
IAN POULTER: I guess.
RODDY WILLIAMS: Oh, dear.

Q. Did going through the tournament without a bogey last week become a target?
IAN POULTER: It did, yeah. And obviously until the third hole, and that was a terrible 4-iron, which resulted in a bogey.
So if anything, that probably got it over and done with, because I was thinking about it, and it was Madrid in 2006, and I went probably 68 or 69 holes without making one. So I guess it was kind of handy to get it over and done with and stop thinking about it and go and play golf.

Q. Is it good for you, all of this friendly banter? Does it bring out the best in you?
IAN POULTER: I think it's great. You can have it amongst the two of you and it's kind of not quite as fun as sharing it with others, so I think it's quite cool.

Q. Is Lee a welcome addition to the Twitterarty?
IAN POULTER: Yes, he's got a great sense of humour, so I think he'll be well appreciated out there.

Q. Are you impressed with how well he's played, since he's hardly played, I think it's four tournaments or something in the last four months or whatever.
IAN POULTER: He's fresh. You know what, he's a great player, and if you're going to practise in your off-weeks and also rest up, you can come out and pick your tournaments to play fresh, then you can be very dangerous.
We have seen Tiger do that year-in, year-out. I mean, he's fresh and he plays 20 tournaments a year. With Lee taking a few breaks to make sure his calf's fine, he's come out strong every single week.
RODDY WILLIAMS: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts

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