Ian Poulter has revealed what he believes the biggest challenges will be at JCB this week, as he prepares to tee it up at LIV Golf UK.
LIV Golf appear to have a big opportunity to capture an audience this week, with many of the PGA Tour’s best taking the week off after The Open Championship rather than playing the 3M Open.
LIV meanwhile, will be at a new venue, with JCB in Uttoxeter hosting LIV Golf UK for the first time. Of course, this shall be the home event for a number of players, including three from Majesticks GC: Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Sam Horsfield.
Poulter is definitely someone who needs a big week, with the 48-year-old sitting 45th in the individual standings on LIV this season. Majesticks meanwhile, sit third bottom in the team standings, so it seems imperative that they thrive in the coming days.
Ian Poulter reveals the biggest challenges at JCB
JCB however, appears to be a daunting prospect, with Sergio Garcia completely unsure over what the winning score will be this week.
And speaking in his press conference ahead of the event, Poulter shared what he considers to be the biggest challenges the field are going to face at this tournament.
“Yeah you’re going to have a number of tricky shots this week, no fairway’s really perfectly flat, those blind tee shots, as Lee said, you have to do your homework, the yardage books these days are so good that they give us great feedback on exactly where to hit it, you’ve always got a line in the book that you can take reference from, so that isn’t too challenging,” he said.
“The challenge is going to be putting the ball where you need to put it with your second shot to give yourself a decent opportunity to make birdie, and the green surfaces are very large, pin locations, you’re going to have to use some of these ridges in the green to feed it into certain pin locations, and if you miss those ridges and you’re the wrong side, then you’re going to be left with a very difficult two-putt. So I think, for me, it will be distance control, second shot iron play, and not being too overaggressive.”
Englishman needs to defy form book
Obviously, there is an element of the unknown because this is the first time LIV has been to JCB, so no-one in the field has a proven track record like Garcia had at Valderrama – the Spaniard had previously won three times at the Andalusian course.
What should help Poulter and Westwood is the support they will have from the fans, with the pair proving to be two of the most popular British players of the last 25 years.
But Poulter is looking for only his second top 10 finish of the season, so he is going to need to tear the form book up completely.
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