Ian Poulter
Personal information
Full name	Ian James Poulter
Born	(1976-01-10) 10 January 1976 (age 36) Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England, UK
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	189 lb (86 kg; 13.5 st)
Nationality	England
Residence	Orlando, Florida, U.S. Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
Career
Turned professional	1995
Current tour(s)	PGA Tour (joined 2005) European Tour (joined 2000)
Professional wins	15
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	1
European Tour	11
Japan Golf Tour	1
Asian Tour	2
PGA Tour of Australasia	1
Challenge Tour	1
Other	1
Best results in Major Championships
Masters Tournament	7th: 2012
U.S. Open	T12: 2006
The Open Championship	2nd: 2008
PGA Championship	T9: 2006
Achievements and awards
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	2000

Ian Poulter at the 2009 Telus World Skins Game, Lévis, Canada

Ian James Poulter (born 10 January 1976) is an English professional golfer who is a member of the world's top two professional golf tours, the U.S.-based PGA Tour and the European Tour. He has previously been rated as high as #5 in the world rankings. He is the touring professional for Woburn Golf and Country Club which is situated in Bedfordshire.^{[citation needed]}

Early career[link]

Born in Hitchin, Poulter took up the game at the age of four when his single-handicap father, Terry, gave him a cut-down 3-wood. His older brother Danny is also a professional golfer.^[1] Unable to get a place as a pro at a private club, he became the assistant pro and golf shop manager at the Chesfield Downs Golf Club.^[2] There he was forced by his boss to pay a full green fee every time he wanted to play in a competition. His handicap hence stayed at four, because he did not play in competitions.

Professional career[link]

Poulter turned professional in 1996 gaining his first win at the 1999 Open de Côte d'Ivoire on the European Tour's second tier Challenge Tour; he won promotion to the European Tour itself via the qualifying school later that year. In his first season, he claimed the Italian Open title and was the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year for 2000. Further wins followed in each of the next four seasons, most prestigiously the season ending "tour championship" the Volvo Masters in 2004. He was in the top ten on the Order of Merit in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2009. In 2010, he finished 4th on the Order of Merit, his highest placing so far. After narrowly missing a place in the 2002 European Ryder Cup team, Poulter was a member of the victorious squad in 2004, where he officially scored the winning points for his team. This entitled him to take up membership of the PGA Tour in 2005, and he has divided his time between the two tours since then.^{[citation needed]}

At the 2008 Masters Tournament, Poulter made a hole-in-one at the 16th hole at Augusta National in the first round. At the 2008 Open Championship, Poulter had the clubhouse lead on the last round before being beaten by defending champion Pádraig Harrington. In the 2008 Ryder Cup, Poulter was the highest points scorer on either side as he scored 4 of Europe's 11.5 points. Europe lost the Ryder Cup 16.5-11.5.

In the 2009 Players Championship, he finished in sole possession of second place at eight under-par, four shots behind the winner, Henrik Stenson. In November 2009, Poulter won the Barclays Singapore Open at the Sentosa Club.^[3] He moved into the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings in January 2010 with a second place finish at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship.^[4]

In February 2010, he won his first tournament on U.S. soil, beating fellow Englishman Paul Casey 4&2 in the final of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona.^[5] The win moved him to 5th in the world rankings.^[6] In November 2010, he won his second title of the year with a one-stroke victory in the UBS Hong Kong Open.^[7]

On 23 February 2011, in Marana, Arizona, Poulter became the first defending champion in nine years to be eliminated in the first round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. He did however enjoy greater success in the European Tour's own match play event, the Volvo World Match Play Championship where he won the title beating Ryder Cup team mate Luke Donald 2&1 in the final. He had previously beaten the world number one Lee Westwood, Francesco Molinari and Nicolas Colsaerts to get to the final. This was Poulter's second tournament win in a match play event and eleventh European Tour victory.^[8] As a result of his win Poulter moved up from 22nd to 14th in the Official World Golf Rankings.^[when?]

Clothing[link]

Poulter is well known for his eccentric dress sense, inspired by his mother who managed the Letchworth branch of UK women's fashion chain Dorothy Perkins.^[2] His most famous pieces include trousers featuring the famous Claret Jug, worn at both the 2005 and 2006 Open Championships. Commentating for the BBC, Seve Ballesteros jibed that this was "the closest [Poulter] would ever get to it". He is an avid fan of the London-based football club Arsenal FC.^[9][10]

He has on several occasions appeared with the team's crest on his shoes, and he even controversially wore the team's shirt during an event, gaining widespread ire for flying in the face of golfing tradition. (immediately after the event the rule was changed to stop future players wearing football jerseys). In addition to his golfing career, Poulter launched Ian Poulter Design (IJP) in 2007.^{[citation needed]}

Controversy[link]

At the Mercedes-Benz Championship in September 2007, Poulter smashed a tee marker in a show of frustration and was fined. Also, in 2006 Poulter paid a £5,000 fine after verbally abusing a marshal at the Irish Open.

In the March issue of Golf World (UK) in 2008, Poulter was quoted saying "Don't get me wrong, I really respect every professional golfer, but I know I haven't played to my full potential and when that happens, it will be just me and Tiger."^[11]

Following the European Team's loss in the 2008 Ryder Cup, Poulter accused Anthony Kim, who was on the American team, of body checking him in the middle of a match, which Kim denied and said it was an accident.^[12]

In April 2010, Poulter was strongly rebuked for using an anti-Semitic slur in one of his Twitter posts. He has since apologised.^[13]

Prior to the USA vs England World Cup Match Poulter tweeted "sorry to disagree but you guys havent got a chance against england, its like england vs usa in basketball, sorry but its the truth." The match finished 1-1.^[14]

In October 2010, Poulter tweeted videos of him with the Ryder Cup trophy at his Florida home, including a video of him and his children eating cereal out of the trophy sparking controversy.^[15]

At the 2011 Masters, Poulter predicted that Tiger Woods would "miss out on a top five finish," (in reference to Woods finding it difficult to return to form). In fact, Woods finished tied for 4th.^[16]

Personal life[link]

Poulter is married to Katie; the couple have four children, and live in Orlando, Florida.^[17] The couple also have a home in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.^[18]

Poulter is an avid car collector, and along with his 2008 purchase of a Ford GT,^[19] he has a Bentley Continental GT, a Ferrari California, and has owned a Ferrari, Nissan Skyline and an Aston Martin DB9. As of December 2011 Poulter has 1.23 million followers on Twitter, which is the second most on the PGA Tour to Tiger Woods with 1.55 million followers. He is a supporter of Arsenal F.C.

Sponsorships[link]

Poulter currently has an endorsement with the following companies: Puma Golf, Mutual of Omaha, Titleist, Cobra, EA Sports, Mastercard, Oakley, Fathead, Audemars Piguet, Marquis Jet.^[20]

Professional wins (15)[link]

PGA Tour wins (1)[link]

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runner-up
1	21 Feb 2010	WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship	4 and 2		Paul Casey

European Tour wins (11)[link]

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runner(s)-up
1	29 Oct 2000	Italian Open	−21 (66-67-65-69=267)	1 stroke	Gordon Brand, Jnr
2	15 Apr 2001	Moroccan Open	−15 (71-67-69-70=277)	2 strokes	David Lynn
3	3 Nov 2002	Italian Open	−19 (61-67-69=197)	2 strokes	Paul Lawrie
4	1 Jun 2003	Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open	−18 (65-67-68-70=270)	3 strokes	Darren Fichardt, Jonathan Lomas, Jarrod Moseley
5	10 Aug 2003	Nordic Open	−22 (68-67-65-66=266)	1 stroke	Colin Montgomerie
6	31 Oct 2004	Volvo Masters Andalucia	−7 (71-67-69-70=277)	Playoff	Sergio García
7	17 Sep 2006	XXXII Banco Madrid Valle Romano Open de Madrid Golf Masters	−22 (67-66-64-69=266)	5 strokes	Ignacio Garrido
8	1 Nov 2009	Barclays Singapore Open (co-sanctioned with Asian Tour)	−10 (66-64-72-72=274)	1 stroke	Liang Wen-chong
9	21 Feb 2010	WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship	4 and 2		Paul Casey
10	21 Nov 2010	UBS Hong Kong Open (co-sanctioned with Asian Tour)	−22 (67-60-64-67=258)	1 stroke	Simon Dyson, Matteo Manassero
11	22 May 2011	Volvo World Match Play Championship	2 and 1		Luke Donald

Challenge Tour wins (1)[link]

• 1999 Open de Côte d'Ivoire

Japan Golf Tour wins (1)[link]

• 2007 Dunlop Phoenix Tournament

Asian Tour wins (2)[link]

• 2009 Barclays Singapore Open (co-sanctioned by the European Tour)
• 2010 UBS Hong Kong Open (co-sanctioned by the European Tour)

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (1)[link]

• 2011 JBWere Masters

Other wins (1)[link]

• 2010 The Shark Shootout (with Dustin Johnson)

Results in major championships[link]

DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
Yellow background for top-10.

World Golf Championships[link]

Wins (1)[link]

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runner(s)-up
2010	WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship	n/a	4 & 2	n/a	Paul Casey

Results timeline[link]

¹Cancelled due to 9/11
DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
NT = No Tournament
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances[link]

• Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 2004 (winners), 2008, 2010 (winners)
• World Cup (representing England): 2001, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011
• Seve Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2003 (winners), 2005 (winners), 2011 (winners)

See also[link]

• Golfers with most European Tour wins

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Ian Poulter's IJP Design
• Ian Poulter at the European Tour official site
• Ian Poulter at the PGA Tour official site
• Ian Poulter at the Japan Golf Tour official site
• Ian Poulter at the Official World Golf Ranking official site
• Ian Poulter on Twitter

v t e European Ryder Cup team – 2004 Paul Casey · Darren Clarke · Luke Donald · Sergio García · Pádraig Harrington · David Howell · Miguel Ángel Jiménez · Thomas Levet · Paul McGinley · Colin Montgomerie · Ian Poulter · Lee Westwood Bernhard Langer (non-playing captain) Won: 18.5 – 9.5

v t e European Ryder Cup team – 2008 Paul Casey · Sergio García · Søren Hansen · Pádraig Harrington · Miguel Ángel Jiménez · Robert Karlsson · Graeme McDowell · Ian Poulter · Justin Rose · Henrik Stenson · Lee Westwood · Oliver Wilson Nick Faldo (non-playing captain) Lost: 11.5 – 16.5

v t e European Ryder Cup team – 2010 Luke Donald · Ross Fisher · Peter Hanson · Pádraig Harrington · Miguel Ángel Jiménez · Martin Kaymer · Graeme McDowell · Rory McIlroy · Edoardo Molinari · Francesco Molinari · Ian Poulter · Lee Westwood Colin Montgomerie (non-playing captain) Won: 14.5 – 13.5

Justin Rose
Personal information
Full name	Justin Peter Rose
Born	(1980-07-30) 30 July 1980 (age 31) Johannesburg, South Africa
Height	1.89 m (6 ft 2 1⁄2 in)
Weight	82 kg (180 lb; 12.9 st)
Nationality	England
Residence	Orlando, Florida, U.S. London, England
Spouse	Kate (m. 2006)
Children	Leo (b. 2009) Charlotte (b. 2012)
Career
Turned professional	1998
Current tour(s)	PGA Tour (joined 2003) European Tour (joined 1999)
Professional wins	11
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	4
European Tour	5
Japan Golf Tour	1
Sunshine Tour	1
PGA Tour of Australasia	1
Other	1
Best results in Major Championships
Masters Tournament	T5: 2007
U.S. Open	T5: 2003
The Open Championship	T4: 1998
PGA Championship	T9: 2008
Achievements and awards
European Tour Order of Merit winner	2007

Justin Peter Rose (born 30 July 1980) is a South African-born English professional golfer who plays most of his golf on the PGA Tour, while keeping his membership on the European Tour. He first came to prominence at the 1998 Open Championship where he holed a dramatic shot from the rough at the final hole to finish in a tie for fourth place. He won the 2007 Order of Merit on the European Tour and was ranked in the World top ten for 34 weeks between November 2007 and July 2008, with a highest ranking of six. In March 2012, Rose won his first World Golf Championship event at the WGC-Cadillac Championship. This was the biggest win of his career, and as a result he re-entered the World top ten at number seven.

Early life[link]

Rose was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and moved to England at the age of five where he started to play golf seriously at Hartley Wintney GC, near his then Hampshire home. Rose broke 70 for the first time at the age of 11, and was a plus one handicap by 14. He played in the Walker Cup in 1997 as a 17-year-old. Shortly after that event, Rose burst to world-wide prominence at The Open Championship in 1998. He holed a dramatic shot from the rough from about 50 yards for birdie on the 18th hole, to finish in a tie for fourth. He won the silver medal for the low amateur. The following day he turned professional.

Professional career[link]

After turning professional, Rose struggled badly in his early career. He missed the cut in his first 21 consecutive events. He earned his first European Tour card in 1999 when he finished 4th at the qualifying school. The following season he failed to retain his card, and had to revisit the qualifying school, where he finished 9th.

Despite his early career struggles, Rose's career soon began to take off and he became established on the European Tour. In 2001 he opened the season with consecutive second place finishes in the country of his birth, South Africa. He went on to finish the year in top 40 on the Order of Merit. He won his first professional event, the Dunhill Championship in South Africa, in 2002, and followed this up with three further victories in that year. They included another win in South Africa at the Nashua Masters, a win on the Japanese Golf Tour at the Crowns Tournament, and then he won his second European Tour title at the Victor Chandler British Masters, edging out Ian Poulter in the final round. In 2003, he reached number 33 in the Official World Golf Rankings. He earned enough money to claim his PGA Tour card as a non-member for 2004 after finishing with more money than the 125th ranked player on the money list. In 2004, he played mostly in America on the PGA Tour, while also maintaining his membership on the European Tour. He did not have a great year and slipped out of the top 50 in the world rankings, however he kept his tour card after earning in excess of a million dollars.

His ranking continued to fall in early 2005, and in March he announced that he was quitting the European Tour and concentrating on playing on the PGA Tour. This had no apparent effect on his poor form, and by the middle of the year he had fallen out of the World's Top 100. In August of that year he made an about face by announcing his intention to return to the European Tour. Later the same week he had his best result of the year, leading the Buick Championship after three rounds before slipping to a third place finish. A couple of further good results followed late in the 2005 season, and he maintained his status on the PGA Tour after all.

In September 2006 at the Canadian Open, Rose led a PGA Tour tournament going into the final round for the first time. But he slipped up with a final round 74 which moved him down the field. He went on to finish 2nd at the Valero Texas Open and finished 47th on the money list with US$1.629 million in prize money. In November 2006 he won the Australian Masters, to claim his first title for four years. His renewed consistency, including a top 5 finish at the 2007 Masters which had seen him surpass his previous best world ranking, by reaching number 26 on 8 April 2007.^[1]

Rose lost in a playoff at the 2007 BMW PGA Championship, but moved into the top twenty of the World Rankings for the first time, and by October had reached a new career high of 12 and became the top ranked British golfer. Rose won the European Tour Order of Merit title for 2007 in a thrilling climax to the season at the Volvo Masters, which he won in a playoff on 4 November. His new world ranking of number 7 made him the top-ranked European golfer for the first time,^[2] and he subsequently moved up to sixth in the rankings.^[3] He has spent over 35 weeks in the top-10 since 2007.^[4]Since the end of 2009, Canadian golf instructor Sean Foley coaches Rose.^[5][6]

In 2010, Rose had a third place at the Honda Classic, and then he broke through with a victory at the Memorial Tournament with a final round 66 to win by three strokes over Rickie Fowler. This was his first win on American soil.^[7] The next day, Rose had to try to qualify for the U.S. Open, along with runner up Rickie Fowler. Neither qualified which raised questions about the qualifications of the U.S. Open.^[8] In his first tournament start since his win, at the Travelers Championship two weeks later, Rose led by three shots entering the final round, but fell away to a tie for ninth. His good form continued in the following week's tournament however, where he led by four shots after three rounds, and shot a final-round even par 70 to win his second PGA Tour event – the AT&T National.

In March 2011, Rose had a chance to add to his two PGA Tour titles won in 2010, when he entered the final round at the Transitions Championship with a one stroke lead. However he shot a three-over-par 74, which included four consecutive bogeys in the middle of the round, to finish five shots behind the champion Gary Woodland. In September 2011, Rose won the BMW Championship, the third of the four FedEx Cup playoff events at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club. This was his first title of the year and third career PGA Tour win. Rose entered the week on the playoff bubble at 34th in the standings, knowing that he needed a good finish to make the final event at East Lake Golf Club. The win elevated him to 3rd in the standings and the position of knowing that if he won the Tour Championship he would be the FedEx champion. A flawless round of 63 on the opening day helped Rose to build a four stroke advantage going into the final round, and even though there was a late wobble with a bogey at the par five 15th, Rose recovered and won by two strokes from John Senden.^[9] Rose did not enjoy the same success at the Tour Championship though, when a second round 75 ended his chances of winning. He finished the tournament in a tie for 20th place and 5th on the overall FedEx Cup Standings.

In 2012, Rose won his first World Golf Championship event at the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral Golf Resort & Spa, when he finished one stroke ahead of American Bubba Watson. He entered the final round with a three stroke deficit from Watson, but after a solid final day's play, he took a two stroke advantage down the notoriously difficult par 4 18th finishing hole. He made bogey however after finding the right rough with his tee shot and could not get up and down from the back of the green. This left Watson requiring a birdie on the hardest hole on the course in the final group behind Rose. Watson hit a tremendous iron shot from the right hand rough to within ten feet, but could not make the resulting putt, leaving Rose to celebrate the biggest win of his career.^[10] As a result Rose returned to the world's top ten, re-entering at number seven.

Personal life[link]

Rose married long-time girlfriend Kate Phillips, a British former international gymnast, in December 2006. They have a house in Lake Nona, Florida, and a riverside flat in the London suburb of Putney. Kate gave birth to their first child, a son named Leo, on 21 February 2009.^[11] On 1 January 2012, Justin, Kate, and Leo celebrated the arrival of a new baby girl, Charlotte.^[12]

Amateur wins[link]

• 1995 English Boys Stroke Play Championship Under 16, McGregor Trophy, English Boys Stroke Play Championship, Under 18, Carris Trophy
• 1997 St Andrews Links Trophy
• 1998 Peter McEvoy Trophy

Professional wins (11)[link]

PGA Tour wins (4)[link]

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	6 Jun 2010	Memorial Tournament	–18 (65-69-70-66=270)	3 strokes	Rickie Fowler
2	4 Jul 2010	AT&T National	–10 (69-64-67-70=270)	1 stroke	Ryan Moore
3	18 Sep 2011	BMW Championship	–13 (63-68-69-71=271)	2 strokes	John Senden
4	11 Mar 2012	WGC-Cadillac Championship	–16 (69-64-69-70=272)	1 stroke	Bubba Watson

European Tour wins (5)[link]

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	20 Jan 2002	Dunhill Championship	–20 (71-66-66-65=268)	2 strokes	Mark Foster, Retief Goosen, Martin Maritz
2	2 Jun 2002	Victor Chandler British Masters	–19 (70-69-65-65=269)	1 stroke	Ian Poulter
3	26 Nov 2006 (2007 European Tour)	MasterCard Masters (Co-sanctioned with PGA Tour of Australasia)	–12 (69-66-68-73=276)	2 strokes	Greg Chalmers, Richard Green
4	4 Nov 2007	Volvo Masters	–1 (70-68-71-74=283)	Playoff	Simon Dyson, Søren Kjeldsen
5	11 Mar 2012	WGC-Cadillac Championship	–16 (69-64-69-70=272)	1 stroke	Bubba Watson

PGA Tour of Australasia (1)[link]

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	26 Nov 2006	MasterCard Masters (Co-sanctioned with European Tour)	–12 (69-66-68-73=276)	2 strokes	Greg Chalmers, Richard Green

Sunshine Tour wins (1)[link]

• 2002 Nashua Masters

Japan Golf Tour wins (1)[link]

• 2002 The Crowns

Other wins (1)[link]

• 2004 Bilt Skins (unofficial money event in India)

Results in major championships[link]

LA = Low Amateur
DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
Yellow background for top-10.

Summary[link]

• Tournaments played: 32
• Wins: 0
• 2nd: 0
• 3rd: 0
• Top 10s: 6
• Top 25s: 14
• Missed cuts: 12
• Most consecutive cuts made: 6

World Golf Championships[link]

Wins (1)[link]

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner-up
2012	WGC-Cadillac Championship	3 shot deficit	–16 (69-64-69-70=272)	1 stroke	Bubba Watson

Results timeline[link]

DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances[link]

Amateur

• Walker Cup (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1997
• Jacques Léglise Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1982