• Ryder Cup

Poulter: Forget mind games, I'm here to win points

There was an air of excitement as Ian Poulter walked into his press conference at Gleneagles on Thursday morning - the kind of aura felt when in the presence of a Ryder Cup legend.

Poulter has earned his status as "Mr Ryder Cup". His win record is better than 80% - the best of any player since the competition incorporated continental Europe to aid the wilting Great Britain and Ireland team.

But the first thing everyone wanted to know: What does he think of Phil Mickelson's comments, after the American veteran took aim at Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell by joking how the US team "don't litigate against each other".

'I could have played for Spurs'

• Ian Poulter revealed he had a "lucky escape" after being turned down by Tottenham as a promising young footballer.
• Poulter, an ardent fan of Spurs' bitter rivals Arsenal, revealed that he had trials at White Hart Lane before turning his attentions to golf.
• He told The Sun: "I wouldn't say my heart wasn't in it at the trials but let's just say as a mad-keen Gooner I was probably less disappointed than I might have been.
• "When you look at all that has happened to me as a golfer, especially at the Ryder Cup, I guess in some ways you could look at it as a bit of a lucky escape.
• "My dad was a useful footballer who also had trials with a few clubs without making the big breakthrough.
• "And he was brilliant at consoling me, saying I'd find something else to excel at.
• "Maybe that rejection made me even more determined to make it big at something else and I definitely worked a lot harder at my golf after that.
• "But I never lost my love of being part of a team and I suppose being a bit of a frustrated footballer is one of the reasons why I love being involved in the Ryder Cup so much."

Poulter chuckled and swigged from a bottle of water - appearing to buy some time to make sure there was no room in his mouth for his foot. What followed was a very measured answer.

"I just have to laugh at this comment," he said. "But you need to see how Rory and G-Mac are in the team room.

"They are very comfortable. There's no animosity in there whatsoever. The guys are good."

So why does he think Mickelson made the comments which have polarised opinions on either side of the Atlantic.

"Look, both teams want to win this trophy," he said. "We have had the upper hand in the last decade, but you have to look at the board since the Ryder Cup started and there is a lot more red, white and blue than there is European blue.

"I don't think [Mickelson's] comments were mind games. There's obviously bigger media coverage than back in the day - and we're more aware of that.

"We all want to win this trophy. Mind games don't really come into play."

Returning to what he knows best - winning Ryder Cup matches - Poulter said it was an "absolute honour" to be mentioned in the same breath as other stalwarts of the competition, including Seve Ballesteros and Colin Montgomerie.

And speaking about US captain Tom Watson's comments that they would "target" Poulter at Gleneagles this week, he added: "I've put a lot of blue on the board and when you have done that it means you have kept a lot of red off the board.

"I'm very proud of being able to deliver for my team and I take Tom's comments as a huge compliment which, coming from someone who has achieved what he has at the Ryder Cup, that's amazing."

Ian Poulter is in high spirits ahead of the 40th Ryder Cup © Getty Images

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