Ian Poulter admitted he was surprised to lie just three strokes off the pace after round one of the Bridgestone Invitational.
Hard work pays off for Ryder Cup star in Ohio
Ian Poulter admitted he was as surprised as anyone to lie just three strokes off the pace after the first round of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational in Ohio.
The Englishman fired a three-under-par 67 at Firestone Country Club to tie for fifth place behind overnight leader Padraig Harrington.
Poulter's appearance in the event represented a return to competitive action following his missed cut in the Open.
Having taken time off following his disappointment at Turnberry, Poulter admitted his hopes were not high heading into the weekend.
However, work on the range paid off on Thursday with a round containing four birdies and one solitary bogey.
"Very surprising start, really," Poulter said. "Obviously Turnberry wasn't quite what I wanted - played terrible, and took a week off straight afterward, which was really nice to get away from golf for a week.
"I started to play a little bit last week, things were feeling okay, and then I got here, and posture, stance, ball position, grip... the whole thing felt awful.
"I've been working hard on the range the last couple of days to try to get it right.
"I got up extra early this morning, did some extra practice which I don't normally do before tournament day with a camera, and I started to feel a bit better.
"Four under par through 11 holes was very nice."
Pleased
Poulter was particularly pleased with his play on the greens, needing just 24 putts in his round.
"Yeah, I putted lovely," he said. "Again, not doing an awful lot of putting practice over the last few weeks, knowing that coming into this golf tournament the greens were always really fast.
"I did a bit of practice Tuesday, Wednesday, and I started to roll the ball real nice. You need to do that if your golf game doesn't feel quite there.
"And then obviously I started to hit a couple of good golf shots and then obviously rolling a couple putts in from 30, 40 feet, which always helps."
He also admitted that starting a tournament without feeling any pressure was a bonus.
"I think you can certainly have too much expectation going into a lot of big golf tournaments, and as we know, it can bite you pretty quickly," he said.
"To be able to go out there, no expectations apart from really trying to swing the golf club well and trying to make decent golf swings, you find yourself on top of the leaderboard. So pretty happy."
