So Near Yet So Far for Poulter

Poulter and Kaymer carded identical rounds of six-under 66 for the day but the latter’s one stroke advantage overnight, helped on Sunday.

Poulter missed a birdie chance and went for par, while Kaymer birdie putt on the 18^th at the National Course to lay his hands on the Falcon Trophy.

Kaymer, who began with 15-under overnight, carded a bogey-free six-under on the final day for an overall 21-under. England’s Ian Poulter, who went ahead briefly during the day before staying level with Kaymer at 20-under, going into the final few holes, carded a bogey-free six-under for an overall 20-under.

He had started the day at 14-under but that missed birdie putt on the 18^th was what separated him and Kaymer.

The Englishman reeled three birdies on the trot and another birdie on the sixth for a four-under on the front nine. He began well on the back nine with birdies on the 11^th and 12^th which put him ahead of Kaymer.

But Kaymer levelled things up with a birdie on the par-4 14^th as Poulter failed to birdie putt any of the remaining six holes, despite coming agonisingly close on the par-5 18^th. Kaymer made no mistake, birdie 
putting the 18^th.

“If you had offered me six-under at the start of the day, I probably would have taken it. But in the first three, I wouldn’t have taken it, being six-under through 12, I would definitely have not taken it. It was a good day’s golf, no bogeys, played solid, had a couple of chances coming in. It was a shame I just pulled my tee shot on the last, to get it a little closer to get on the front of that green and 2-putt. But Martin played well today. He’s played very solid, he was in front, shot six-under and that’s going to be hard to beat,” Poulter said on Sunday.

Poulter, who moved from 12^th to 10^th in world rankings said that he was disappointed having not won despite shooting a good round. But he said he would like to take the positives out of it. “The 17^th was the turning point where he ran through. I would have said I was more annoyed about my putt to be honest with you. It was bang on line, straight in the middle and I was up into the grain, just didn’t quite hit it. But it is a nice start to the season if you are going to take the positives out of that. I’m pretty frustrated that I’ve walked away shooting that score and I haven’t won. But it is good. I move onto next week, have a bit of fun, see if I can go one step closer next week,” he said.

Poulter said there were a lot of ifs and buts and he said that had he birdied the fourth and fifth, things would have been a lot different. “I would like to have stamped my foot down a bit harder. The first three birdies, I wanted to really get fast out of the gate and I did. I really should have birdied 4 and I had a great chance at 5. Birdied 6. If you look at that there, I could really have been six-under through the first six holes and that would have troubled him. But it is a shame,” Poulter said.