IAN POULTER’S love affair with the World Golf Championship events looks like giving him the final push into the European team for next month’s Ryder Cup.
The two biggest wins of Poulter’s career have come in WGC competitions, and he has finished runner-up on two other occasions.
And he is bang in the hunt for a third world-beating victory, after adding a four under par 66 to his first round 64 at the St Jude Invitational in Memphis.
Poulter, 45, was worried that two weeks at home with his family in England after the Open would have dulled his competitive edge – but those fears have proved totally unfounded.
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He has bagged 11 birdies and made just one bogey in his opening 36 holes, to sit three shots behind early pace-setter Harris English.
And even that one bogey must have felt like a birdie.
Poulter lost a ball off the tee on the ninth, but canned a 35 footer to limit the damage to one dropped shot.
Poulter also shrugged off another wild drive on the par five third to send a 209 third shot screeching to a halt 12 feet from the flag, for the first of his five birdies.
He said: “Of course the Ryder Cup is on my mind – it always is! I’ve played in six, and I want to be there in Whistling Straits for number seven.
“Two or three more weeks of golf like this should take care of that.”
Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy came into the tournament after missing out on a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
The Northern Ireland star stumbled to a two-over par 72 in the opening round following his debut at the Games.
McIlroy ended the round 10 shots adrift of leader Harris English in 62nd place.
