The Chicago crowd knew how to taunt Ian Poulter. “Major winner, major winner,” they chanted, as Webb Simpson, America’s US Open champion, arrived on the first tee for their singles match.
They mocked Poulter’s record in the big four strokeplay tournaments because there was no mud they could throw at him in Ryder Cups.
Played four, won four, with one needless spell on the bench: this was Poulter’s record after his 2&1 victory over Simpson.
Without their peacock, Europe would have been dead meat on Saturday night. But in the dusk of another Yankee Doodle day, Poulter strode up the 18th fairway to card his fifth consecutive birdie.
That secured a precious final point for Europe to fire them into the singles 10-6 down but with a glint of hope.
As Poulter marched through the gloom at the end of Saturday’s fourball, a well-oiled American struck up a tune on his harmonica and the home crowd sharpened their jokes.
The scene had an elegiac feel. But Poulter was having none of it. The 12-foot putt – his second in a row – was drained, the match won, and the European mood revived.
Backslapping, hugs and high fives preceded an outbreak of dancing and song as Jose Maria Olazabal, Europe’s captain, declared: “I think the Ryder Cup should build a statue for him.”
Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia had won their match, too, moments earlier, but there is no doubt who was Europe’s spiritual leader here in Illinois.
Poulter, or 'Poults’, who started as an assistant pro and golf shop manager at Chesfield Downs Golf Club, has moved to the highest echelon of Ryder Cup gladiators.
This event stirs his natural tenacity, gives him something to fight against. It is the perfect outlet for his pride.
“It comes from within,” he said, “and if we can do anything to win this trophy, in this position, with Seve looking down on us, then you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”
Poulter had played with the world No 1, McIlroy, but Rose called him Europe’s real leader. “Well, I don’t know about that, but I just love the Ryder Cup,” Poulter said.
“You just try to get your hands back on the trophy. It’s not about me; it’s about the team. We need to go out there real strong and try and get our hands back on this trophy.”
The mid-Atlantic diction points to a kind of Americanisation but in essence Poulter is still the lad from Hitchin who exudes a kind of English punk spirit.
Europe’s top scorer at Valhalla (2008) and Celtic Manor (2012), he had scored eight points from 11 matches before his excellent displays here.
As America surged ahead, he won the Friday foursomes with Justin Rose, sat out the afternoon fourball (Olazabal’s biggest error), won his Saturday foursomes match with Rose again and then teamed up with McIlroy to earn his continent’s sixth and final point before the singles, in which he scored his sixth consecutive birdie, against Simpson, at the 433-yard par-four first.
Poulter is not averse to making enemies. As he left the first tee, Tiger Woods walked nearby jabbing his finger at Simpson’s caddie. Presumably he was administering tips on how the annoying Brit could be broken. Woods is no Poulter acolyte.
Simpson was two-up after six holes but Poulter fought back pugnaciously. “Hey, Ian, where are your coloured shoes?” a fan called.
These feeble provocations bounced off him. Secretly, this Chicago crowd were starting to admire America’s most implacable opponent.
At the 14th he refused to concede a five-foot putt to Simpson, and quite right, too. The match was all-square. It was no time for charity.
And to think he was once seen as a dilettante in union flag slacks: a clothes horse who was using golf as a vehicle to an empty kind of fame.
On the driveway at his Florida mansion sit at various times a Bentley Continental GT, a Ferrari California and an Aston Martin DB9.
Yet the charge directed at him on that first tee is that he has failed to climb golf’s commanding heights: the four majors. The follow-up condemnation is that he never will.
Though he looks younger he is 36 already. But he is getting closer. His second place at the 2008 Open prompted Nick Faldo to award him a captain’s pick for Valhalla and this year there have been three top-10 finishes at the majors.
He was seventh at the Masters, tied for ninth at the Open and took a share of third at the USPGA.
The theory is that aggression cannot sustain itself over the 72 holes of a major, and that he lacks the natural talent to support his belligerence.
Yet so many new names have been carved on major trophies in the last few years that it seems unjust to conclude he will only ever be a matchplay specialist with a gift for getting up the nose of Uncle Sam.
However his career turns out you have to admire his courage. He strode into action on this final day banging his heart with his fist.
He has found a way to turn adversity into fuel and you can bet your farm that he relishes the attention that comes with being hailed as Europe’s leader.
“I just love it: 11 other great lads, great captain, vice captains, incredible week, something that you just don’t get in normal, regulation golf,” he said.
“It brings you closer to everybody else and they are special moments.” In Ryder Cups, simply, he is magnificent.
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