Ian Poulter not being distracted by off-course issues

Ian Poulter does not want to let off-course issues distract him from his bid to rediscover his best form before the year is out.

The Ryder Cup star is determined to put an injury-hit season behind him as well as move on from the furore surrounding Ted Bishop, who described Poulter as a "li'l girl" on social media last week.

Bishop's ill-advised slur cost him his role as president of the PGA of America, but Poulter refused to comment on the issue before struggling to a two-over 74 in the first round of the BMW Masters in Shanghai.

Exciting

"I'm here to play golf and that's what I'm focused on this week," said the Englishman, whose criticism of Ryder Cup captains Sir Nick Faldo and Tom Watson in his recently-published autobiography prompted the offensive tweet from Bishop.

"The book's been great. It was a fun project. From the first days of talking about it two-and-a-bit years ago to coming round to it launching has been quite exciting.

"But now it's all about playing good golf for four weeks, turning the season around which has been a disappointment."

Poulter finished 2013 ranked 12th in the world, but he has slumped to 43rd this year after struggling with a series of injuries including shoulder, back and wrist problems which he blamed on too much time in the gym.

But he insists he is now back to full fitness and is looking forward to trying to finish the season on a high during the four-tournament European Tour Final Series.

Niggles

"I'm fit and healthy. I feel good and I'm looking forward obviously to four good weeks," Poulter said. "The niggles have cleared up.

"My record has been good in China the last few years so I'm hoping there's more of that to come.

"To be honest I don't feel like I've played an awful lot. Playing golf is the easy part it's the practising away from the golf course that tires you out. And I haven't done a lot of that because I've had the injuries."