Despite not playing as much golf as one might expect of a world leader, Lee Westwood has maintained his position at top of the world golf rankings for the 3rd week in a row. In fact, the only change in the entire top 10 ranked world golfers was the two Northern Irish players, Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy, who swapped positions to leave McIlroy down in 10th and McDowell up to 9th. Having finished 4th at the Australian Masters at the weekend, Tiger Woods has also stayed put, remaining in 2nd place behind the English world leader.
Outside of the leader board, Lee Westwood has won his 10th European Tour title by closing the UBS Hong Kong Open with a 22 under par aggregate of 258, causing him to leap 3 positions up the rankings, to world number 11! A single step higher for Poulter will make him the 4th Englishman in the top 10 ranked world golfers, along with Paul Casey, Luke Donald and, of course, Lee Westwood. Although that will bring England level with the USA in terms of the top 10, we mustn’t get too cocky as, after Poulter, the rankings are devoid of any English players until Justin Rose and Ross Fisher at 28 and 29.
In my last post I commented on the way Ian Poulter's victory was just as important for English golf as it was for his own career. Making up 50% of the top ranked golfers in the world (three of the top six) English golfers seem set to continue the dominance we've seen recently.
Although Poulter's victory has been all over recent golf news, let us not forget Lee Westwood's fantastic victory in the Race to Dubai not too long ago, not to mention the fact that Paul Casey is still ranked number six! Below that, we also have Ross Fisher, Luke Donald and Oliver Wilson all in the top forty - things are definitly looking good.
But back to Poulter, since it's his turn in the limelight. As far as technique goes,we all know he's not the best. His recent short game has been exceptional (as displayed by his two pin shots the other day) and his putting has been impressive as well. His ball striking, on the other band, isn't the best around - yet that doesn't seem to be holding him back. Why? I think perhaps Englishness plays a role here as well; Ian Poulter is full to the brim with good old fashioned English dive and determination. He may wear pink from head to toe, but inside he's made of iron! An excited time lies ahead for English golf!
We may relentlessly mock him for his golf clothes, but not since Faldo's Masters victory over 13 years ago has there been a golfing victory for an Englishman like Ian Poulter's defeat of Paul Casey in the final of the Accenture Match Play. In his own words, "It’s been a long time coming. I’m very happy. I knew I was in great form coming in. I felt calm all day on the golf course. Nerves didn’t come into it." To be honest, Poulter didn't need to tell us that; it was obvious from the way he played that he was confident to the core, as he wiped the floor with Paul Casey's valient efforts to keep up.
Now rated fifth in the world rakings, Ian Poulter is only one position below Lee Westwood and a spot higher than Casey! As great as this is for Poulter, it is even better for English golf as a whole, as our countymen now make up 50% of the Top Six ranked world golfers! When you consider Tiger Woods is still the top ranked player, the top six are essentially a top five; three of whom are English! A staggering achievement all round!
I find it interesting how, in the world of sport – where players’ skills are tested to the limit to judge who is the best – the most famous players are rarely those who are genuinely the best at what they do. In football, David Beckham is a worldwide megastar not necessarily for his free-kicks of latter years, but for his “good looks” and marriage to a Spice Girl (from another industry where talent and fame rarely go hand in hand). In short, it is not necessarily the best players who are the most popular – but the most interesting players.
When it comes to golf, you don’t get much more interesting than Ian Poulter. Admittedly his golfing style lacks the flair of Camilo Villegas, but his golf clothes are second to none when it comes to eye-catching. So popular is the golfer that, despite the awful £190,000 splash-down at Cog Hill on Sunday, Ian Poulter’s twitter following has reached 601,064! Considering it was “nearly 600,000” about 7 hours ago, that’s quite the boom in popularity!
The reason I am telling you all of this is because Poulter has declared that when he hits a million followers, he will “do a massive give away. irons, woods, putters, gloves, balls, glasses, hats, ea games, and much more.” He may have a fairly long way to go yet, but with an approximate rise of 1,000 fans every 6 hours (or 4,000 fans per day), that’s only around 100 days until he reaches his target. For those of you whose internal calendar is not as finely tuned as mine – in 100 days time...it will be Christmas Eve!
So, if we all pull together and follow ianjamespoulter on twitter for a few months, we may raise his following just enough he’ll have to head up the driving range in a brand new garish outfit – a bright red one, with black boots and a hat with a white bobble on the end! “Walking in a Poulter wonderland...” (the worst sport chant ever).
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