Poults joy at well-timed win

Poulter: won in Singapore

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Ian Poulter acknowledged his victory at the Singapore Open could not have come at a better time with the race for Ryder Cup points having now started.

The 33-year-old Englishman clinched his first title since the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament Japan back in November 2007 as he held off China's Liang Wen-chong to win by one stroke at Sentosa Golf Club over the weekend.

His eighth European Tour success gave a welcome early boost to his bid to qualify for a third Ryder Cup appearance as he climbed to fourth in the standings.

It also saw him rise to tenth place in the Race to Dubai standings and a career-best 15th in the world rankings.

With a host of other lucrative and high-quality events to come in the weeks ahead, Poulter conceded he had found his form at just the right moment.

"It's not just the win, it's the right time of the year to win in the sense that the Ryder Cup points have started," he explained.

"I have the next six weeks to play, five of which count for world rankings and Ryder Cup points. I wanted to put as much money on the board as I possibly could.

"It is an exciting few weeks leading to Dubai so I am looking forward to getting to Shanghai and staying fresh and working on a few shots that were getting away from me this week.

"I feel like I have better things to come in the next few weeks for sure. I have had six weeks off, I have definitely removed a few cobwebs.

"When I am hitting the ball well, I am hitting it as good as I have ever hit it - there are certain shots that I hit this week that I was very, very happy with."

Well-timed

Indeed, Poulter feels he timed his break perfectly even if it meant he was a little ring-rusty as the weather-affected event in Singapore came to a tense climax.

"You have to have a break at points in the year," he continued. "I had a good year but you have to have a rest at some point and I picked the right time to do it.

"I didn't hit a golf ball for the first three weeks and then started in the last three weeks. I was hitting it nice but had only played two rounds of golf in the six weeks off.

"I didn't really know how I was going to play but I knew that I was hitting it good so it very pleasing to come straight out and win.

"It was a dramatic two days. The stop start nature of the event was tiring. Leading after such a flying start - five shots in front through 36 holes kind of surprised me a little bit.

"I had done a lot of work in the six weeks that I had off but I was looking to ease into the week not come out all guns blazing.

"It was a surprise and then the last two days I am not sure if I was just distracted, or not concentrating or tired or rusty, I just found myself dropping silly shots and making the tournament a lot more interesting.

"I would like to have had it a little different. I am frustrated at the bad shots that I hit even though I have still won this tournament. I should have done a lot more in rounds three and four to make it a lot more comfortable."