JUST TIGER AND ME, SAYS IAN
POULTER ... "I DON'T RATE
ANYONE ELSE"

FROM THE GUARDIAN SPORTS WEBSITE
By LAWRENCE DONEGAN
No one has ever accused Ian Poulter of undue modesty and it is unlikely anyone ever will after it emerged that the extrovert Englishman had declared himself the only golfer in the world worthy of comparison with Tiger Woods.
"The trouble is, I don't rate anyone else," Poulter said, dismissing the talents of, among others, Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson, each of whom has won three majors. Poulter has still to win his first, or indeed mount even a serious challenge.
"Don't get me wrong, I respect everyone who is a professional. But the problem is I know I haven't played to my full potential yet. And when that happens it will just be me and Tiger."
That is quite a boast, even from a player who has never been noted for underestimating his talents. Yet whereas the public, and the media, have come to view Poulter's brashness as an appealing trait, some of his contemporaries regard him as an attention-seeking prat, a view confirmed in the eyes of some by the photographs accompanying the interview in Golf World which show the player naked but for a strategically placed golf bag.
When news of his latest bout of self-promotion circulated around the Emirates Club, the venue for this week's Dubai Desert Classic, the reaction mixed incredulity with irritation, not least at the notion that someone with only seven career victories could compare himself to Woods, the world No 1 who has 85.
Top-class professional golf is a small world and Poulter is likely to find himself the target of ridicule for some time, starting today when rumour has it that his peers are planning to abandon the Emirates driving range at a prearranged signal, leaving the Englishman and Woods to practise together