FORT WORTH, Texas — Ian Poulter didn’t have much time to think about the way he finished Friday’s round at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Maybe that was best.
After dropping three shots on the final six holes at Colonial Country Club, Poulter barely had time to do anything before heading to bed — a lengthy rain delay pushed his second round back, meaning he didn’t get off the course until after 8 p.m. local time. The Englishman did squeeze in time for an Instagram post, and proclaimed that he’d be “super aggressive” over the weekend.
He wasn’t lying.
Poulter responded with birdies on four of his first six holes on Saturday, rolling to an impressive 64 that was his best ever in 29 rounds at Colonial.
“I know we had a bit of a rain delay and that was frustrating. I feel I’m playing really good. I’m hitting my lines. I feel like I’m rolling the ball really well on the greens. So to drop three last night from being Top 15 is really frustrating,” he said. “So I wanted to come out fast today. I wanted to make a few birdies. Continue to put some pressure on the course and see how low one under we can go and 6-under is a pretty good round.
“I left a couple out there, but you know, if we can go again pretty hard tomorrow, stay aggressive and see if we can run up the board again.”
Poulter’s year has been a rollercoaster ride of sorts — he missed a pair of cuts in March in his current home state of Florida, but responded with a solid week in nearby Austin for the WGC-Dell Match Play and also finished T-26 at the Masters.
So he’s eager to inch up near the top of the leaderboard, but he knows it will take a similar effort on Sunday to do that at a place he’s long enjoyed visiting.
“I’ve always liked this venue. I’ve always liked the golf course. It sets up with only two par 5s, two par 5s that I can reach … 11 is kind of within reach if it’s downwind, but good putting surface. Tricky tee shots on a number of holes and a course where I feel quite comfortable,” he said.
“The golf course isn’t going to dry out too much today. So I would expect quite a few birdies from the guys in front, and it’s going to put me quite a few behind. So I have to have a run tomorrow. I need to go clean through the fives, and just see if we can get close.”