As far as personality goes, and for his slightly dapper and eye-catching clothing, Ian Poulter is a breath of fresh air for British and European golf.

No shrinking violet, Poulter was recently quoted as saying: "Dont get me wrong, i really respect every professional golfer, but i know i haven't played to my full potential and when that happens, it will be just me and Tiger".

Whatever you may think, sheer confidence or pure arrogance, there is no doubt that Poulter is an exceptionally talented golfer. Yet does he have the necessary credentials to back this up?

'Whatever you may think, sheer confidence or pure arrogance, there is no doubt that Poulter is an exceptionally talented golfer'


In 13 years as a pro, Poulter has managed nine professional wins. It's not exactly Tiger Woods form but Poulter did concede that he may have been mis-quoted. Nevertheless Poulters pedigree is good.

He won the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year in 2000 and claimed the Italian Open in his first year of the European Tour, also 2000. Further wins followed over the years and in 2004 Poulter won the prestigious season-ending Volvo Masters.

He was in the top ten of the European Order of Merit in the years 2003-04-06 and narrowly missed out on the Ryder Cup team for 2001 but he officially scored the winning points in the victorious European team of 2004.

Afetr wearing trousers with the famous Claret Jug on them whilst competing at the Open in 2005 and 2006, Seve Ballesteros cruelly commented on the BBC that this was ".....the closest (Poulter) would ever get."

In the last three years Poulter has divided his time between the European Tour and the PGA Tour resulting in him consistently hovering in and around the World's top 20 golfers. Still a relative youngster at 32 years of age it was generally thought that Poulter would have broken his duck at a Major certainly by now.

He is highly regarded but his record at the Majors is average, and if he wishes to even attempt to back up his mis-quoted claim then something will have to give soon. As with most golfers in the top tier of the sport, Poulter is no longer seeking to win trophies for money alone.

He has his own clothing line and makes top money from sponsors and through EA Sports computer games where he is featured alongside Woods and Luke Donald.

The potential is there for Poulter and it will most likely be a race beween he, Donald, Justin Rose and Nick Dougherty for the first Brit since Paul Lawrie to win a Major. Let's hope its sooner rather than later.