Rose surprised by pal Poults

Englishman expected friend to compete at Gleneagles

Last updated: 3rd September 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Rose surprised by pal Poults

Poulter (L) and Rose representing England at last year's World Cup

Maybe he feels like he's done enough - that's all I can imagine.

Justin Rose on Ian Poulter
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Justin Rose has admitted to being surprised that close friend Ian Poulter had opted to stay in America rather than try to qualify for Nick Faldo's Ryder Cup team by right in Scotland.

Poulter, who could have qualified for the European team with a strong showing at this week's Johnnie Walker Championship, has decided to stay across the Atlantic and compete in the Deutsche Bank Championship - thus relying on a wildcard pick from Faldo to make next month's match at Valhalla.

Unlike his pal, Rose will be at Gleneagles as he bids to cement his place by right and has been left nonplussed by Poulter's actions.

"Maybe he feels like he's done enough - that's all I can imagine," he stated.

However, he refused to subscribe to the theory that Poultyer has already been promised one of the two wildcard berths by Faldo.

"I think it's going to be a tricky decision that Nick faces," he continued.

"Just reading between the lines he (Poulter) is certainly very well placed in terms of world rankings (23rd against Casey's 35th, Darren Clarke's 56th and Colin Montgomerie's 91st) and The Open is still relatively recent in my opinion.

"But I haven't spoken to him this week and I'll be quite interested obviously to hear what his thoughts are."

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