It’s a tribute to Ian Poulter’s demand for perfection that he is not putting in place putting advice from the legendary Greg Norman, without mastering it on the practice greens first.
A day after the Englishman lost the Turkish Airlines Open to Brooks Koepka – despite leading the tournament by six shots at the halfway stage and after making a few mistakes on the green on Sunday – Norman sent a tweet to Poulter, saying: “Mate, noticed something in your putting when I watched you yesterday. Easy fix.”
I will give you a call @SharkGregNorman. Thanks Poults.
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) November 17, 2014
On the eve of the DP World Tour Championship yesterday, Poulter revealed he did make a call to the two-time major winner.
Norman has told him something, but that will remain a secret until Poulter has worked on the fix, and will be revealed only if it makes a difference.
“I spoke to him last night, yes,” said Poulter.
“But I’m not telling you because I don’t know if they are going to work. I know Greg really well. It was really nice of him to reach out. He noticed a couple of things, but I’d like to review the coverage first, just to see if his observations were my observations as well.
“I’ve been working really hard to try and hole putts, and it’s started to happen the last couple of weeks. Obviously, a couple of putts have slipped past, but I’d like to try and review them myself.
“I respect Greg’s opinion. I will take on board what he said and I will be on the putting green soon to see if what he said is right or wrong.
“I’m on a fine line right now of do I mess and try something. So, it would be unfair to say what we discussed on the telephone.”
Finishing second last week in Turkey still weighs heavy on Poulter, but he is delighted with the progress he has made over the last fortnight.
Before the BMW Masters in Shanghai, he was ranked 64th in the Race to Dubai and in danger of failing to make it here, but back-to-back top-10s at the WGC-HSBC Champions and in Antalya has catapulted him to No12 and he is ready for another duel with his Orlando neighbour Henrik Stenson for second place in the standings.
“Obviously, last week was a good week. I am slightly disappointed not to finish the job off but that’s happened,” said Poulter, who switched to Titleist clubs a week before the Final Series.
“The pleasing thing is the new equipment that’s gone in, I’ve settled into it very quickly.
“I am coming into a golf course that I like and I’ve had good success, being pipped by Robert Karlsson in the playoff and Henrik last year. I like the setup, and hopefully we can go one better. I’m still chasing Mr Stenson down like I was chasing him last year.”
