Rory McIlroy isn’t the only big name playing in the Valero Texas Open this week on the advice of his caddie. Ian Poulter has also decided to change his routine before Augusta after a scouting report from his bagman Terry Mundy flagged up a tight, strategic course that plays to the Englishman’s strengths.
‘I’ve never played the week prior to the Masters before but I’ve only played three events so far this year so it feels like a perfect fit,’ explained Poulter.
While McIlroy has frantically added this event because he feels rusty, Poulter is relaxed about his similarly light schedule. It comes after his experience this time last year, when he paid for a few months of hectic travelling by contracting pneumonia that left him flat on his back for a fortnight.
Playing to his strengths: Ian Poulter is now planning a pre-Masters tune-up at the Texas OpenTime out: McIlroy was watching NBA basketball with former San Antonio Spurs forward Bruce Bowen on Sunday
‘Not what you need when you’re preparing for Augusta but I have learned my lesson,’ he said.
The Texas Open organisers can hardly believe their luck at players of this calibre pitching up at an event that usually attracts only the rank and file. When McIroy announced his surprising move on Friday, the tournament’s spokesperson was almost beside herself. ‘This isn’t Good Friday, it is Phenomenal Friday,’ she gushed.
In a move that feels positively Tiger-esque, extra security staff are being taken on to cope with crowd numbers expected to be swollen by the fact that McIlroy is in town.
Neither are Poulter and Rory the only notables lured to the event by its proximity to the Masters. Also in the field are more major champions: Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and South African Charl Schwartzel, winner of the green jacket in 2011.
Playing on the PGA Tour usually means committing to a minimum of 15 events but this year, for the very best, the number will effectively be 17.
The season ends with two limited-field FedEx Cup events but almost every player will feel the need to have completed their minimum quota before then, just in case they don’t make it into those tournaments.
The bad news on this side of the Atlantic is that two extra events in America for all the Florida-based UK players probably means two fewer appearances on the European Tour.
Quote of the week‘I said to my caddie walking up the 18th, “No matter what happens, we’ll be playing for a green jacket next week”. It’s hard to beat that feeling.’
Swede Henrik Stenson, ranked 53rd in the world last Monday, had to climb into the top 50 at the end of the Houston Open to make it to Augusta. He did so by registering four birdies in his last five holes to finish tied second behind America’s DA Points.
One of the game’s genuine guys, it’s good to see him piecing his life together again after losing millions in the Allen Stanford financial scandal. Now he’s qualified for Augusta, don’t be surprised if he carries this momentum all the way to the first tee and contention.
Swede dreams: Henrik Stenson is looking forward to Augusta after a strong show at the Houston Open Putting crisis highlights Wie slumpAlongside a number of fascinating, feelgood stories that will unfold when the women’s major championship season starts in Palm Springs this week is a rather sad one.
No-one ought to shed tears for the American Michelle Wie. At 23, she has a degree from one of the most prestigious universities in America and has earned $2.5million. That’s not failure in anyone’s language. But what is also undeniable is that all the extraordinary promise she showed during her teenage years remains largely unfulfilled.
Let’s not forget, this was a girl so gifted she made the halfway cut in an event on the LPGA circuit at the age of 13. At 14, she only missed out on making the halfway cut at a men’s tour event by a single stroke, registering a 36-hole score lower than that managed by male players as good as Australian Adam Scott.
She has a hunch: Michelle Wie has adopted a bizarre putting stance in recent weeks
So to see what has happened this year is poignant indeed. So far she has played in six events and made one halfway cut, earning a princely $6,131. She stands 86th in the women’s world rankings.
In recent weeks photographs have shown her adopting an extra-ordinary putting technique. Bent from the waist, her back is parallel to the ground. As Judy Rankin, the doyenne of women commentators, said: ‘I look at that technique and see nothing good coming from it.’
If you’re reduced to putting like that at 23, where does it all end? So good was Wie at 13, I thought she would be competing against the men on a regular basis by now.
In another 10 years, it would come as no surprise if she has given up golf altogether and fallen back on that coveted Stanford degree.
More... Are Poulter's dogs better dressed than him? Golfer's pets wear coat and bandana as part of April fool prank Heartbreak for Siem as German misses out on Masters place by just 0.03 points in the world rankings McIlroy puts pre-Masters struggles aside and joins NBA giants James and Wade at Miami Heat match Points means prizes! American wins Houston Open to book his place at Masters
