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WGC HSBC CHAMPIONSNovember 4, 2012Ian PoulterSHENZHEN, CHINA MICHAEL GIBBONS: Ian, many, many congratulations, WGC ‑ HSBC Champions winner. Must feel pretty good right now. IAN POULTER: Yeah, I feel fantastic. Feel great. After looking at the board after two days, Louis being five shots clear, kind of sets the tone; if he carries on that way, he was going to run away. But it was nice to put up two scores over the weekend, 14‑under, for Saturday, Sunday, is a decent finish, and nice to get another victory on a year where there one was sorely needed. Q. Obviously a fantastic feeling today. How does that feeling compare with, say, The Ryder Cup? IAN POULTER: Good opener. I mean, personally, to be able to out there with Terry as a partnership and be able to win a tournament is fantastic. It still doesn't give you the kind of same buzz you get playing The Ryder Cup, even with nine holes to play. It's just not quite as much adrenaline in the body. But Ryder Cup is special. It's always going to stay special for that reason, but you know, it's hard to compare the two. Q. We all know about Ian Poulter, team player. But how important was it just from a personal basis to show you're more than that and get this win? IAN POULTER: Yeah, very much so. I spoke about it early in the week, and said that I've only been one season without a victory, and I certainly didn't want to go another one. As well as I've played this year, it would have been a disappointment personally to have gone that year without winning, and for me and for how I played this year, it's obviously a great and fantastic feeling especially after The Ryder Cup to get my hands back on a great trophy like this. Q. You always get phones ringing and disturbances out here, but you seem to deal with it well. Do you have a couple of Chinese expressions that you throw at them? IAN POULTER: I'm not sure if I do deal with it terribly well. Q. Well, you didn't kill anyone. IAN POULTER: It is a challenge obviously. Even if I say it in Chinese, kind of gets a little bit of a laugh, so not really sure what I'm saying to be honest. Q. Is it just Chinese, is it? IAN POULTER: I'm not sure what it is, but it does create a little bit of a laugh amongst everybody around me. So I'm not sure what I'm saying. I'm trying to say 'no telephones.' But you know what, they love taking a photograph in this part of the world and you have to be patient and back away sometimes and go ahead and try to hit your shot without any distractions. Q. And did anybody put you off? Did you drop any shots today, on the 15th, for instance? IAN POULTER: No. I backed away a number of times, but I was able to refocus knowing that there's probably going to be a few photos taken during the swing. But done a pretty good job today I think of keeping a handle on it. Q. We are all going to think that this is a continuation of The Ryder Cup. First question is basically, is this in your mind a continuation? Are you taking riding that wave that you found in Chicago and using that this week? And secondly, Terry talked about in Chicago afterwards when you were burying all those putts like you did today at times; that you would only have to play like ten times a year because you don't need to play anymore. So can you just talk about your focus in those situations? IAN POULTER: I definitely think it is a part continuation of The Ryder Cup. I played great. I felt like I holed putts at the right time, which I did. I took that into last week, and then I had three weeks off straight after The Ryder Cup and I tried to get away from golf a little bit. But a couple of rounds of golf that I played in the three weeks off, I made 27 birdies without hitting a golf ball in practise in three broken rounds of golf. So I was still holing those putts; so I knew that I could kind of ride a lot of that for a while, and I certainly did that last week. I was getting frustrated out on the golf course last week with missing putts, opportunities that I definitely should have been holing. But I kind of‑‑ I holed a few on Sunday and finished fourth, and I knew this week is a golf course that I know really well, and I've played well around here. I know if I do hole the putts at the right time on this golf course, I was going to put myself in a decent position. After two days, I felt I was probably too far back with the way Louis was playing, but as you saw guys, Westwood and Snedeker shooting 11‑, 12‑under par, anything is possible on this golf course once you get the putter warm. I guess I got it warm for the first 15 holes. And it is hard to close out tournaments sometimes. But I've definitely taken a lot from The Ryder Cup and I'm definitely obviously riding that wave as much as I possibly can, and hopefully I can continue with the confidence that I've got from The Ryder Cup to just bottle as much of that as I possibly can and use that in stroke‑play events. It's definitely worked last week. It's definitely worked this week. So there's definitely a little mind‑set change that I discussed with James and Paul and hopefully we can continue to do that for a long time. Q. In talking about bottling this good form and taking it forward, with some big events at this time of the year in this part of the world, and looking ahead to next year, you must be thinking after winning two of these WGCs, the next step must be surely a major. IAN POULTER: It would be nice. (Laughter). Well, I think I'm at the stage of my life and career where I've won some big tournaments and obviously this is going to go down there as another big tournament. I base my schedule around the majors, and obviously people and players get looked upon with how they have played golf over the years by how many majors they have won. I have not done that yet, and hopefully this will certainly help towards confidence and‑‑ not that I really need too much of that, but just getting me the right mind‑set really to go out there and perform like I know I can. I know I've got the golf game to be able to go out there and win majors. People keep asking all the time: When, when, when. I don't know when, and I'm trying really hard and obviously I'd like to put one in the trophy cabinet, simple. But I'll do my best next year and see if I can do that. Q. At a very important point in the round on the 15th hole, you had to wait for 15 minutes. How did you deal with it? And you hit a great tee shot over there, but what was going through your mind over there and how did you deal with that weight? IAN POULTER: Well, we dealt with it pretty much the whole way around the back nine to be honest. It wasn't just 15. We waited, I think we waited on every hole around that back nine. And obviously, a two‑tee start on this golf course‑‑ it was pretty windy out there. It was going to be tricky. Guys were going to get caught out with winds gusts. And in three‑balls on a Sunday afternoon, it's always going to be hard to not have any congestion on the golf course. It's fine. I was playing with two great guys, and it was easy to kind of kill a bit of time before hitting your tee shot and obviously second shot. There was no real struggle for anybody. It was just a long day. Q. How are you going to celebrate the win? IAN POULTER: Pretty easy. I think I'm going to have a nice different everybody in Hong Kong. I might have a bottle of champagne and chin‑chin with a couple of guys on the way home. And I'll enjoy it when I get back to Orlando tomorrow with the family and hopefully I can get back to the house just before the kids leave for school so I can give them a big hug. Q. On 18, you hit your shot in the bunker, what was on your mind at that particular moment, and is it a pressure during the play? IAN POULTER: After I hit the second shot in the bunker? Q. You hit the ball in the bunker before you hit the third shot on to the green. IAN POULTER: Well, obviously I had a lead and the way my short game had been all week, I felt very comfortable‑‑ I obviously wasn't aiming at the bunker.  I was aiming to kind of hit it about 30 feet right of the pin and have a birdie putt. But I pushed it right, like I did on 17, but from that position, the right‑hand side of the bunker, it's not that difficult a bunker shot. I mean, you've got 25 yards to the pin. It's all downhill towards the pin. So it would have been easy to get inside eight feet and give myself a chance at holing a putt to obviously win. So there was no other thought apart from that, up‑and‑down to win. Q. Middle of the night back home? IAN POULTER: Yes, it is. Q. Have you phoned the family? IAN POULTER: No, I haven't. It's five clock in the morning. I hope they are all asleep and they are going to wake up to a nice surprise. If my wife stayed up all night to watch it, she'd have been biting her nails. I look forward to giving them a call in a little while when I get to Hong Kong. Q. And are you going to treat yourself with anything special? Got a new car lined up? IAN POULTER: I've already spent the cheque last week. I'm not going to tell you what it is until it arrives and I've got it home safe and sound, but yes, it was a vehicle, and yes, it was very expensive. I'll let you all know what it is when it arrives. Some things don't change. (Smiling). Q. In the closing ceremony, you took a speech on 18th green presentation, you weren't prepared for the win, and‑‑ IAN POULTER: Anybody that wins a golf tournament is prepared. They give you a piece of paper, and we just make sure that we know who to thank. That's a very simple procedure. That happens every single week. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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