The Open / Ralph Ellis / 21 July 2008 /

Ian Poulter's golf spoke louder than his trousers at Royal Birkdale yesterday, says Ralph Ellis.

Ian Poulter has so often been golf's equivalent to one of those footballers who arrives at the World Cup with his hair dyed orange and purple. He might not be all that good, but stand out from the crowd and it's a great way to get talked about, and enhance a career with a move or a sponsorship deal.

Poulter's done the lot with Union Jack trousers, a whole range of other garish colours, and of course THAT interview when he told the world that it should be just him and Tiger competing for all the major honours. At Royal Birkdale he was pretty in pink, but for once it wasn't what he was wearing that stood out but the quality of his golf.

Okay, it wasn't quite as good as Matthew Dunn's careless second paragraph in this morning's Daily Express suggests: "A brave 69, secured with a knee-trembling 15-footer for par on the 18th, made him clubhouse leader on seven under par". That would have made him not just clubhouse leader but tournament winner by ten shots - Poulter was of course seven OVER par after four wild and windy days of links golf, and a black mark for the Express production team who failed to spot the error before their first edition went off stone.

But there was the sense that something else about Dunn's piece was absolutely accurate when he says this was the day that golf's biggest joker got serious. And even his fiercest critics today have recognised that Royal Birkdale in 2008 might just be a tipping point in the career of a player who has always promised much and delivered a good deal less.

The Daily Mail's Alan Fraser points out that three years ago in The Open at St Andrews Poulter was "all mouth and lots of trousers, each pair louder than the next." Those included a set of strides with the claret jug all over them, and many said it would be the nearest he'd ever get to the famous old trophy. As Fraser says: "They were wrong, and but for a storming finish by Padraig Harrington the Open might have been won by a man dressed from waist to toe in pale pink".

The sense is that Poulter is a man on the march, in whatever colour trousers he happens to be wearing, and there's one contest where he won't mind letting somebody else dictate the fashion and that's if he gets to wear Europe's uniform in the Ryder Cup. Second place and a cheque for £450,000 moves him to seventh in the world points list published today, only a fraction outside the crucial top five finish that would guarantee a place in Nick Faldo's side. And as Dunn points out he has at the very least responded to Faldo's appeal for the fringe players to make their mark before he selects his wild cards.

"I've certainly put myself back in the picture," says Poulter. "It was great to be in the side four years ago and I want to be in it again.

You can back Poulter to be in Faldo's team for Valhalla in September at [1.33] and that looks a very safe investment. His price for the US PGA next month may have dropped to [40] if you're looking for a longer priced punt.

Only eight Americans finished in the top 30 at Birkdale - exactly half the number of Europeans in that list. But don't be fooled into thinking that should mean the US aren't worth being [2.12] favourites. Conditions in Kentucky will be very much more calm than on the Merseyside coast.

Five things you might not know about Ian Poulter

1. He grew up in Stevenage, the same Hertfordshire town that produced Lewis Hamilton, but was actually born in nearby Hitchin

2. He got his love of fashion working on a market stall with his brother on Saturday mornings in Stevenage selling shirts and jeans

3. He started his golfing career as an assistant professional in the Family Golf Centre near home, earning £3.20 an hour

4. When he first played in tournaments he struck a deal with European Tour pro Mark Litton to drive him to the airport in exchange for a dozen of the Titleist Professional 90 golf balls that Litton got from his sponsors for free

5. He's now got one home in Buckinghamshire and another in Orlando

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