Ian Poulter - August 29, 2012

• By Morning Drive Team
• Aug 29, 2012 8:44 AM ET

Poulter will be making his 4th Ryder Cup appearance next month as one of Jose Maria Olazabal’s two Captain’s Picks. The Ryder Cup is almost always at the top of his priority list and he felt very confident that he would be a member of the team following his tie for 3rd in the PGA Championship even though Sergio Garcia edged him out of an automatic spot when he won the Wyndham Championship.

Nicolas Colsaerts has been around for a very long time and not only can he drive the ball very long and very straight, he has also worked very hard to improve his game after struggling early in his career.  Colsaerts would be the first to tell you that he did not take the game as seriously as he should have when he was younger but he has been able to transform both his game and his attitude. That transformation has made him a great player and he will be a great asset to the European Ryder Cup team.

The European team has so many options when it comes to Four-Ball and Foursomes pairings and that has been one of the reasons why Europe has been so successful over recent years. Having those options give you a lot of confidence and it is very easy to walk to the first tee of a Ryder Cup feeling as though you can and will win when you know how strong your team is.

The U.S. team definitely has an advantage when it comes to off the tee. Medinah is a very long golf course and the U.S. players on average hit it longer than the European players do. The 2012 Ryder Cup will come down to putting and the fact that the course has wider fairways than most big tournaments makes putting and short game much more important.

When it comes to why he needed a Captain’s Pick this year, his son was born earlier this year and he missed a number of tournaments that he usually played in. He feels that he has had a very solid year although he has not won in 2012. He rallied with some strong finishes on the European Tour as well as the PGA Championship and he ended up just short of an automatic selection via the World Points List.

When asked about how he feels about playing a Ryder Cup in the United States, he said three words: Bring It On. When he played in the 2004 and 2008 Ryder Cup in the United States, he was very motivated by the crowds and the chants and very few things excite him as much as hitting a great shot or making a big putt in front of a pro-U.S. crowd in a Ryder Cup.