Golf Central

Let’s face it he has been a bit quiet of late. And while the word ‘nice’ is probably not the one you’d use seeing Ian Poulter starkers on the cover of UK golf mag Golf World (we’d rather not upset you by showing it), his modesty was just as poorly hidden in the accompanying interview: “I haven’t played to my full potential and when that happens, it will be just me and Tiger,”

Poulter can be very engaging as long as you accept it’s all about him. He’s supremely professional at the meet-and-greet end of the operation and the influence he’s had on every aspiring teenage golfer can be seen by the number of Poulter-tribute hairstyles that are on show among junior members of Britain's golf clubs.

Poulter has shown remarkable determination in graduating from club pro to multiple tour winner. His fellow pros always qualify their admiration for his achievements with off-the-record comments of disbelief. They think he’s a nothing-special golfer, but then again many of them will end up lower on the leaderboard most weeks.

Of course his comments about Tiger are laughable. But as ESPN’s Jason Sobel points out in his excellent comment piece, neither does he criticise Tiger’s game, not does he display the arrogance of Rory Sabbatini or Stephen Ames, two of the PGA Tour’s least popular characters. People can help liking Poults, even with his tackle out.