Poulter defends Vivendi snub

Ian Poulter has defended his decision to skip the Vivendi Trophy after being criticised for doing so by Colin Montgomerie.
Ian Poulter has defended his decision to skip the Vivendi Trophy after being criticised for doing so by Colin Montgomerie.
Poulter has explained his absence from Paris this week where Great Britain and Ireland are playing Continental Europe by saying he wants to avoid burn-out.
Monty, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain, was unhappy that Poulter, the top scorer for Europe in last year’s RyderCup, had turned down the chance to play in the inaugural Vivendi Trophy, previously named the Seve Trophy after Seve Ballesteros, the man who created and launched the event.
“I really want to be fresh and strong for all of the Ryder Cup qualifying events that I’m going to play in – the Ryder Cup means everything to me,” Poulter told his Twitter followers.
“It would have been great to play the Seve Trophy, but my schedule makes it very difficult to play every event – and it is so important not to burn out.
“The Vivendi Trophy will be awesome to highlight some potential new Ryder cup players – Fisher, McIlroy, Kjeldsen, Quiros, Dougherty, Wood etc.”
Lee Westwood, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia also decided not to play, while Paul Casey and Martin Kaymer are injured and Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald are playing in FedEx Cup final, the Tour Championship, in America.
Poulter failed to make the US finale by one shot and is having a number of weeks off before a busy end-of-year schedule – much of it in the Far East.
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