Poulter acknowledges the Augusta gallery
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A hole in one at the 170-yard par three 16th helped Ian Poulter to a first round 70 and the early lead on day one at Augusta.
It was the 21st ace recorded at the Masters - the 11th at that hole - and the first since South Africa's Trevor Immelman holed out at the 16th in 2005.
The eight-iron shot got the 32-year-old Englishman to three under (he had earlier birdied the fifth), but his second shot at the 440-yard 17th went through the green and he failed to get up and down, so he had to settle for a two-under-par opening 70.
"It was a perfect eight-iron. I hit it really solid, flushed it and as soon as it left the club I knew it was going to be pretty good," he said.
"It was an unbelievable buzz, a special moment. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up. It's probably the biggest adreneline rush I have ever had."
Confident
Poulter is clearly in confident mood and said he could hardly wait to get started this week
"I'm confident in the work I've done in the last couple of weeks. It's good," he added. "I hit the ball good in practice. I had two good practice rounds two weeks ago here with Justin Rose. And I feel comfortable out there on the golf course.
"So if anything, I got to say, Tuesday morning I was itching to play. I was ready to play golf and it was kind of killing time through Tuesday and Wednesday. I got out there today and I executed pretty much every single shot I wanted to today. It's probably one of the best ball striking rounds of golf I've ever played."
The flamboyant former Ryder Cup star will be hoping for a strong showing this week after recently inviting riidicule from his fellow pros by suggesting he is second only to Tiger Woods in terms of ability. Poulter is currently ranked 24th in the world.
