Ian Poulter fine with being dropped

Ian Poulter has insisted that he respects Paul McGinley’s decision to rest him for Saturday afternoon’s foursomes session.

The Englishman has not been at his formidable best at Gleneagles in either of the two matches he has played so far.

His 5&4 defeat alongside Stephen Gallacher on the first morning saw him dropped for the afternoon and despite appearing to find his form towards the end of his fourball match alongside Rory McIlroy – a match they halved with Jimmy Walker and Rickie Fowler – the hero of the 2012 match at Medinah again found himself benched this afternoon.

Even so, the 38-year-old refused to criticise captain McGinley’s decision to leave him out. Asked if he would have liked the opportunity to carry on his momentum, Poulter replied: “Yeah, but there’s also lots of other guys that want to go out this afternoon as well.

“Only eight can get out on the golf course. We have 12 great players. There are no egos on this team. This is 12 great players that all went to play golf and have to respect the captain’s decision.”

“You have to keep telling yourself that the good stuff’s coming but it took quite a while.” – Ian Poulter

Poulter added that he has been hugely impressed with the way McGinley has led the team so far.

“He’s been very solid,” said the five-time Ryder Cup player. “Every decision he’s made, he’s been very good. He’s been very thoughtful in the evenings. He understands how the players are thinking and I think we’ve got a lot of experience in the back room team as well. So, everybody has worked very, very hard and thought about the matches. We’ve discussed them and I think so far, so good.”

Going into this week, Poulter had won 12 of his 15 Ryder Cup matches. That record has taken something of a hit, following his loss alongside Gallacher and halved match in the company of McIlroy.

“Obviously, I haven’t played my best golf,” he acknowledged. “You just have to get something going. You have to stay positive. You have to keep telling yourself that the good stuff’s coming but it took quite a while.”

Ian Poulter :: Will he deliver the goods tomorrow?

Out of sorts for much of this year’s match so far, how do you expect Ian Poulter to fare in tomorrow’s singles session? Win, lose or halve? Leave your predictions in our ‘Comments’ section below.

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor