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Poulter fired up to make his voice count

Ian Poulter is eager to add some passion to the European Team © Getty Images

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Ian Poulter has expressed his burning desire to star for the European Team at the Ryder Cup, insisting he will bring the passion needed to ensure Colin Montgomerie's men reclaim the trophy.

Poulter, who will be playing in his first Ryder Cup on home soil at Celtic Manor next week, was a rare shining light in Europe's defeat at Valhalla in 2008 - the Englishman contributed four wins out of five but USA still won by five points.

When he steps onto the course in Wales, where he will be making his third appearance in the biennial event, Poulter is adamant he will inject some passion - something which was lacking in the 2008 European Team.

"What was wrong with Europe at the last Ryder Cup? We didn't show enough passion and that's got to change," he told the Daily Mail. "I can't stress to you how much it means to me to play for Europe in the Ryder Cup and I trust my team-mates feel the same way. We've got to show people how much we enjoy competing for Europe. We need to get that across to the crowd and get them passionately on our side. As you can imagine, I can't wait."

His aggressive style proved to be just what Nick Faldo's men were missing two years ago, but even Poulter admits he made mistakes.

"I wasn't vocal enough in the team room, that's for sure, and I'll give you a very good example," he said. "I should have stamped my foot down at the team meeting on Saturday night. I was playing out of my skin and I was thrilled when I was put down to play No. 2 for the singles the next day. It didn't matter who I was playing against, I knew I would win and I wanted to see some European blue on the leaderboard early on.

"But I was overruled by a senior player and I eventually played at No. 10, where I won and it meant nothing because we'd lost by then. I can't tell you how depressing that was and it won't happen again. My voice will definitely be heard in the team room at this Ryder Cup."

After an impressive start to the season, that saw him win Accenture Match Play Championship, Poulter has gone off the boil in recent months.

"I was looking forward to this Ryder Cup for too long. I made the team last February and while the win at the Accenture was fantastic and a landmark victory for me, my concentration hasn't been the same since. But these are all things to store in the memory bank, to learn from going forward, and I understand myself as a golfer a lot more as a consequence."

And a fired-up and motivated Poulter is likely to be a huge asset to 'Monty'. "The only thing Monty needs to know is that, wherever he puts me, I'll be coming home with a point," he said.

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