Poulter moves into contention in New York

Ian Poulter had no reason to regret putting pleasure before work after he moved into contention for the Barclays Classic in New York.

Watching England’s opening World Cup game meant cutting short his normal practice session, but Poulter then fired a six-under-par 65 despite gusts of up to 30mph.

With a round to go in the final warm-up tournament for this coming week’s US Open at nearby Winged Foot, Poulter was only three behind leader Billy Andrade - and that after surviving the halfway cut by the skin of his teeth and starting the day joint 70th.

“I’ve given myself a great opportunity and I’ll go out there with a lot of confidence,” said the 30-year-old Arsenal fan.

“I saw about 82-83 minutes of the game. I was off at 11.15 and I walked on the practice ground just after a quarter to, so I had 20 minutes to go.

“I didn’t do a normal practice routine. I hit a couple of shots with each club, walked on the putting green, hit five putts and walked on the tee.

“I was talking with my manager over the last couple of weeks. If your expectations are too high and you’re not achieving you’re too hard on yourself. Don’t have expectations walking out on the golf course and let your golf game do the work – it’s funny what this game will reward you with.

“I’m in one of the final groups now and my aim is to go and enjoy myself. Don’t have any expectations. Just go and play golf like I know I can and see what happens.

“It would be really, really nice to win, especially the week before the US Open. It would mean a lot of exemptions. There’s all sorts of stuff it would do for me.”

At eight under par Andrade is one ahead of Vijay Singh and Adam Scott, while David Howell’s disappointing 73 dropped him from joint leader into a tie for fourth with Swede Fredrik Jacobson and American Brett Quigley.

Luke Donald is alongside Poulter in joint seventh and one shot further back Graeme McDowell made it five Europeans in the top 12 when a 71 kept him four under.

Defending champion Padraig Harrington, who after standing six over par on the second day had produced eight birdies in 12 holes to move to two under, fell out of the hunt with a 75.

Playing partner Jose Maria Olazabal had the same score, but his included a one-stroke penalty for his ball moving as he addressed it on the short 14th.

Howell’s bid for a first victory on American soil faltered as he ran up five bogeys, but a closing birdie kept his hopes high, especially as leader Andrade’s last US Tour success was six years ago and he is not currently in the world’s top 200.

The last time he led with a round to go he fell away to 15th with a 75. And his best finish this season is 30th – but he is a former winner on the course.