Poulter enjoying 'fun' rivalry with McDowell and McIlroy

Ian Poulter is relishing the prospect of some friendly rivalry as he bids to hold off the challenge from his 2010 Ryder Cup colleagues for the UBS Hong Kong Open trophy tomorrow.

The Englishman heads into the final around with a two-stroke advantage at the top of the leaderboard after continuing his faultless displays around the Fanling course.

Poulter had gone bogey-free in the first two rounds and once again did not drop a shot as he signed for a six-under-par 64 to move onto 19 under 191 for the tournament.

However, he will certainly be in for no easy ride tomorrow with the likes of Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy in contention as well as compatriot Simon Dyson, with the Yorkshireman alone in third following a 65 today.

US Open champion McDowell is Poulter’s closest challenger in second after the Northern Irishman carded a seven under 63 while McIlroy – determined not to let the UBS Hong Kong Open title slip away from him for a third successive year – is four shots off the lead alongside Anthony Kang (67) following a 66.

And Poulter is looking forward to extending the friendly ’banter’ between himself, McDowell and McIlroy onto the course tomorrow.

“It’s going to be good fun,” he said. “We had lunch earlier in the week, actually, Tuesday it was, and we were having a little bit of banter in the pub, and I told Graeme I was going to win this week.

“Then Rory walked in and they had a bit of banter between those two, because Graeme had just gone a place in front of Rory in the world rankings, so there’s been some banter between those two and obviously me with Graeme.

“So it’s going to be a great day tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it. We have had some fun certainly over the last few weeks.

“Graeme’s in good form, I’m in good form, Rory is playing well, Simon Dyson is up there, so this golf course is going to give up a low score tomorrow. So it should be good fun.”

McDowell, meanwhile, believes there will be plenty of others capable of crashing the party tomorrow with scoring having been particularly low throughout this tournament.

Poulter made his charge with a 10 under 60 yesterday while players even as far back as 12 under having already managed to shoot a 63.

“It is a really bunched leaderboard. Lots of guys can come out of the pack and shoot a low number tomorrow,” said McDowell.

“As we have seen already there is a 60 on this course. You can look back at those back 12 or 13 under par really who have good chances.

“There are plenty of guys who can stop me. I have got to go out there and play well tomorrow.”

Dyson has proved to be something of a dark horse in Hong Kong and though he has yet to lead the tournament, his consistency has seen him in touch with the leaders over the course of the three days.

The 32-year-old already knows how to win at the Hong Kong Golf Club having emerged victorious here a decade ago and he is feeling confident of creating a surprise tomorrow.

“This week has been the best I’ve putted all year really. So the confidence is pretty high and I’m seeing the lines pretty good,” said Dyson. “It’s set up for a great day tomorrow.”

Defending champion Gregory Bourdy faces a tough task to retain the trophy with the Frenchman six shots behind Poulter in a three-way tie for eighth after signing for a five under 65.