Wild Poulter decision could haunt Faldo

THE first time Nick Faldo was handed a wild card into the Ryder Cup, he lost his opening match, did not play again until the singles — and lost that as well.

It did not matter because Europe still triumphed for the first time in 28 years.

But if the side he is now in charge of lose later this month for the first time since 1999, and Ian Poulter does not earn a point, Faldo can expect to be hammered. Rightly hammered for getting it wrong.

However, he is backing Poulter, controversially chosen ahead of Darren Clarke, to get his act back together and bring not just colour, but also quality golf to Valhalla in two weeks’ time.

Although the Open runner-up is now under intense pressure, Faldo said: “I’ll be in his ear. He’ll be alright.

“Knowing him, I think he’s been thinking about it too much. He’s an emotional guy and gets wound up.”

Poulter has missed his last two halfway cuts — both in the US, of course, and the second of them after he made a decision not to come back to Europe to try qualify for the team.

Many would like to have seen that choice punished with the wild card going elsewhere and former European captain Bernard Gallacher believes team morale could be affected.

It is what Europe could be missing that has shocked people, including US captain Paul Azinger.

Clarke and Lee Westwood have been formidable together. They have beaten Tiger Woods three times out of three, have won their last four games and six out of eight altogether. Only Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal have tasted more wins in partnership in cup history on either side.

Clarke also won all his three games last time and did so just six weeks after his wife died of breast cancer. Faldo’s only concern is what will bring the best out of a side going for a fourth successive victory.

Even before knowing the last four of Azinger’s team — he names them today — Europe start favourites and still would have done if Tiger Woods had not been injured.

Poulter admitted even before his early exit from the tournament in Boston on Saturday that he might have made a mistake not flying to Scotland and after he crashed out he described himself as “spent, exhausted”.

Faldo attributes that to him being “put through the wringer” over his Gleneagles decision, but he is taking a big gamble.

Despite a fine performance in The Open, it was one of only two top 10 finishes he has had all year. The other was in January.

And the word coming back from America is that they would much rather be facing Poulter than they would Clarke — or even Colin Montgomerie.

Clarke is up from 258th in the world last December to just outside the top 50. Poulter, however, is the leading European who did not make the side on points. Paul Casey is next at 35th and he received the other wild card.