Diplomatic Poulter handles phoney war with ease

IF Ian Poulter copes with his American opponents as capably as he handled the many searching questions fired at him yesterday in the Valhalla media centre, then he should have few problems later this week.

The Englishman, who qualified on a captain’s wild card, despite not playing the last two European qualifying tournaments, was prepared for the barbed questions, and you suspected he was well coached in the art of speaking a lot and saying very little.

When asked if his fellow players had gone out of their way to be welcoming, he responded: “No, to be honest, the guys have been great. The team morale is great.”