Poulter victorious in Australia

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December 18, 2011

England’s Ian Poulter shot a final-round 67 to win the JBWere Masters in Melbourne on Sunday.

Poulter finished on 15 under at Victoria Golf Club, three shots clear of nearest rival, Australian Marcus Fraser, who impressed with a 64 on the day.

Overnight leader Geoff Ogilvy could not repeat his third-round 63 heroics and posted a 73 that saw him finish in third, a shot behind Fraser.

Peter Senior, the only players besides Poulter and Fraser to shoot four sub-par rounds this week, finished fourth at seven under alongside Adam Crawford (66), whuile Luke Donald closed with a 72 to finish his incredible season rather tamely down at four under.

Donald said he was a little disappointed by his performance this week, but was still proud of what had been “an amazing year”.

Poulter, winless since the Volvo World Matchplay Championship back in May, was clearly delighted with the triumph and took to Twitter immediately after putting for par at the 18th: “Winner winner chicken dinner … what a way to finish the year.”

With the win, Poulter has moved from 28 in the world back into the top 20.

“For me it was a pure ball-striking round of golf,” Poulter said.

“(My concentration) was flawless the whole day. I was happy how I approached every shot.

“I hit my targets, it was fairly methodical, but for me it was a nice round of golf.”

Poulter signalled his intent early on with an eagle at the short par-four first hole that brought him level with leader Ogilvy right at the start of the day’s play.

The next few holes required several par saves, until the long seventh where he took the lead with another birdie after a superb approach shot.

Poulter held his nerve, and held on to the lead, on the back nine, as Ogilvy failed to convert the chances he created for himself.

Whereas putts were dropping all over the place on Saturday, his putter deserted him today, and after 12 straight pars he dropped shots at 13 and 15 that effectively ended the contest.

“Ian played very well and I didn’t,” said Ogilvy.

“I couldn’t make a birdie all day.

“I am disappointed, but what are you going to do?”

Fraser, meanwhile, was delighted with his second place finish.

“Anything is possible, but you have got Ian Poulter and Geoff Ogilvy up there in front of you and those guys are too good to mess it up,” Fraser said.

“I hit a lot of good shots this week and I am very happy with how I played.

“It would have been nice to hole a few extra putts at the start of the week, but I got my fair share today.”

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