Masters Poulter

Published:

Ian Poulter, pretty in pink today, had a very steady start to his second round, reaching the turn in  level par 36, following a birdie at the 6th with a bogey at the 7th. Unlike yesterday’s round of 2-under par 70, however, which he later described as “one of the best ball-striking rounds of my life”, his swing seemed slightly restricted, and yet he made up for it with a hot putter.
He holed a great putt on the 5th to save his par, before holing another long one on the 6th for birdie.
Poulter, of course, became only the 19th man in Masters history to record a hole-in-one yesterday, something he did at the 16th hole. Today he made a great birdie at the short par-3 12th, sinking a 15 foot putt, before punching the air and milking the crowd. What a showman. Amen Corner was good to the Englishman because he then made another birdie at the 13th, holing out from 8 feet, after laying up with his second shot. On the 14th, he was just over the back with his second and almost holed his third, settling for a par. And, on the par-5 15th, he used a similar strategy to the one he had used at the long 13th, laying up short of the water. This time however, his approach was over hit and found the back fringe, from where he could only make par.
At the par-3 16th, he followed yesterday’s ace with another beautiful shot, which curled down to within 5 feet of the flag, from where he made another birdie, to go to 5-under-par. And two solid pars on the last two holes left him three shots off Immelman’s lead.
“I scored better today,” he said, “I had a couple of really key up-and-downs at the 3rd and the 5th. They were key to me keeping my momentum going. And then the birdie at the 6th settled me right back down. I’m in a great position now. This is certainly the best position I’ve been in at the halfway stage of a major.championship. Playing the way I am I’m feeling pretty confident.”

 

- Just so you know, whilst we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this page, we never allow this to influence product selections - read why you should trust us.