Ticking off from Monty sparks Poulter recovery

AFTER a telling off from captain Colin Montgomerie, Ian Poulter helped Britain and Ireland mount a Seve Trophy fightback at The Wynyard near Middlesbrough, England.

But following a blunder from Bradley Dredge it is still Continental Europe which leads going into the weekend. Jose Maria Olazabal's side hold a 6-4 advantage thanks to Emanuele Canonica and Maarten Lafeber beating Dredge and Stephen Dodd on the last, the Welsh pair having had to concede the opening hole when it was discovered Dredge had 15 clubs in his bag.

Beaten 4-1 in the opening fourballs, Montgomerie spoke to Poulter about the fact he was not around the 18th green as the first day's play on Thursday was coming to a vital conclusion.

The colourful Englishman was away practising as Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley lost to French pair Thomas Levet and Jean-Francois Remesy.

"He was the only man who was not with his team," said Montgomerie, who went to Poulter and told him what he thought.

After combining with Nick Dougherty for a 5&4 win over Remesy and Levet, Poulter had the chance to put his side of the story.

"Nobody is going to be happy, are they?" he said. "Monty came over and said Harrington wasn't overly happy that I was hitting balls while they were playing, even though I had stopped in between all of their putts. So on my side it might have been a bit of a mistake. I should have been around the 18th green watching everyone finish. Lesson learned and that is it.

"I spoke to Padraig personally and asked him 'Did I put you off?' He said 'No, not in any way.' He said he was 99% sure I was stopping in plenty of time for them to play their shots, which I did.

Asked whether there was a row between him and Montgomerie, Poulter replied in the negative.

David Howell and Paul Casey and then Harrington and McGinley also hit back from first-day defeats, but Montgomerie and Graeme McDowell, Britain and Ireland's only winners on day one, were defeated by Thomas Bjorn and Henrik Stenson.

Harrington and McGinley were sent out first and were an approximate eight under in beating Swedes Niclas Fasth and Peter Hanson three and one. Asked about the behind-closed-doors team meeting Harrington said: "Monty was good about it. He was not treating us like kids or anything like that."

McGinley said of the Poulter 'incident': "It's no big deal. We are a team and we are not going to nail any of our players. Ian Poulter has shown a great bit of nerve to come out and beat Levet and Remesy, who played the best golf yesterday."

For the first time in four matches Montgomerie will rest himself from a session today.

"It was always my intention," said the seven-time European number one, who will be expected to return for the afternoon foursomes.

As for the match position Montgomerie said: "It was a necessity we won the series today (they did 3-2) and it's game on."

Scores:

(Great Britain and Ireland names first, Continental Europe led 4-1 after first day):

P Harrington & P McGinley bt N Fasth (Swe) & P Hanson (Swe)3 and 1, P Casey & D Howell bt M A Jimenez (Spa) & J M Olazabal (Spa) 5 and 4, C Montgomerie & G McDowell lost to T Bjorn (Den) & H Stenson (Swe) 3 and 2, I Poulter & N Dougherty btJF Remesy (Fra) & T Levet (Fra) 5 and 4, S Dodd & B Dredge lost to M Lafeber (Ned) & E Canonica (Ita) 2 holes

Fourballs result: Great Britain and Ireland 3 Continental Europe 2

Match position: Great Britain and Ireland 4 Continental Europe 6

Today's draw and tee-off times (GB and Ire names first):

0750Harrington and McGinley v Levet and Olazabal

0805 Howell and Casey v Fasth and Hanson

0820 McDowell and Dodd v Jimenez and Canonica

0835 Poulter and Dougherty v Bjorn and Stenson.