Rankings jump for Poulter after Singapore win

IAN POULTER reaped the rewards for Sunday’s hard-fought one-stroke victory at the Barclays Singapore Open as the Ryder Cup contender ended a two-year winless streak to leap to a career-high 15th in the world.

After a six-week break following the end of the FedEx Cup play-off series, Poulter even surprised himself by how well he played at Sentosa Golf Club to edge out China’s former Asian number one Liang Wen-chong and return to the winners’ circle for the first time since the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament Japan in 2007. Poulter’s eighth European Tour victory, his first since Madrid in 2006, also kick-started his bid to qualify for a third Ryder Cup after moving up to fourth in the standings to make Colin Montgomerie’s team.

And with Ross Fisher winning the Volvo World Match Play Championship in Spain after beating American Ryder Cup player Anthony Kim 4&3 to reach a career-best 17th in the world, captain Montgomerie has nine candidates for Celtic Manor inside the top 20.