Clothes horse Poulter positions himself for run at Green Jacket

Ian Poulter posted his second straight 68 Friday and shares the halfway lead heading into the weekend, thanks as much to his maturity and his preparation as to his unwavering confidence.

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM Site Producer

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Ian Poulter has never lacked confidence.

Not when he was a 15-year-old assistant working in a golf shop in England. “He was a cocky young so-and-so but he just had something about him so I decided to take a chance,” Lee Scarbrow, his first boss, said in The Guardian. “It might sound daft, but he was world-class at folding shirts and sweaters and displaying them well in the shop and he could sell them, too.”

Not when he won his first professional tournament soon after -- he predicted he’d win and did, despite boasting a balmy 4-handicap at the outset of his pro career.

Not when he developed his own bright and bold clothing line -- not to mention a headcover that’s a caricature of himself -- before he’d ever won a single thing on the PGA TOUR.

Not when he said, in so many words, that when he was at his best, it would be he and Tiger Woods at the top of the game.

On Friday, Poulter found himself atop the leaderboard at the Masters, where he matched his career-low round at Augusta National with back-to-back 68s that left him tied for the lead with countryman Lee Westwood heading into the weekend of the year’s first major.

Not only is Poulter confident, clearly he is good and ready to become known for more than the bold clothing and brash commentary.

“I think my golf game certainly is a lot better now than what it was when I first played,” Poulter said. “I think I've learnt the golf course over the last six years. I feel very comfortable out there hitting certain shots; there are a lot of shots that I didn't feel I was very comfortable pulling off six years ago.”

Here are five reasons he could feel comfortable in a Green Jacket come Sunday night:

1. His willingness to be aggressive. Augusta National is not for the faint of heart and Poulter has the willingness to not back off his shots. “You have to be aggressive to your targets around this place,” Poulter said. “You can't let this course intimidate you too much, because you'll back away from the shots you should be taking on.”

2. His preparation. Much like when he won at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship earlier this year, where he cut and pasted numerous extra notes into his yardage book, Poulter plotted out every conceivable line in his yardage book for Augusta National. He also came into the tournament on two weeks’ rest and put in a full two days of practice prior to Masters week.

3. He relishes the spotlight. When asked about being a pre-tournament favorite, Poulter said he didn’t mind the attention. “I like that it's going to put a bit of pressure on me,” he said. “It's going to make me focus.” As much as Poulter has grown tired of talking about Tiger Woods, he was also happy to have teed off in front of him with galleries 10 deep, too. That’s what he could be facing Sunday.

4. He finally proved himself. Poulter’s victory at Dove Mountain was his first on American soil and came on a golf course that has its own tricky greens. “It's helped a lot to win on this side of the pond,” Poulter said. “It has made a big difference, and the fact that it was a WGC has given me an extra boost.”

5. His putting. The flat stick is what won Poulter his first TOUR title and it’s a big part of his success here so far, too. In the first round, Poulter averaged 1.4 putts per green in regulation. In the second round, he averaged 1.5. If he keeps putting like that, he will win.

There’s actually one more reason Poulter has a very good chance to be the one putting on a Green Jacket on Sunday night: confidence. But we already knew that.