How Ian Poulter seemed to thrive on every moment of last night’s late Ryder Cup tension. Round the 18th green the peacock strutted, relishing attention’s glare. His self-belief was visible, just as the tension was visible on the face of his captain. One wonders if José María Olazábal has perhaps been too tense this week.
 
Poulter had a mad look in his eye. And moments later, a fifth consecutive birdie. In the post-match interview he was still so pumped he looked like he would either explode with pride, or cry.
 
He does seem to have even more self-belief in the team environment – just like Colin Montgomerie before him – and if Europe do win an unlikely victory, they’ll have Poulter to thank for keeping them in it in the dusk of Saturday evening.
 
In the next few weeks though, in a quiet moment, Poulter should get the DVD out marked ‘Saturday, Medinah, 2012′ and ask himself – why? Why does he play so exceptionally in the Ryder Cup? What’s different? And how can he take that same belief into every other tournament when golf becomes a solitary sport again?
 
 
Every day during the Ryder Cup, Tony Wrighton writes a column on pressure for Golf Monthly. He is a presenter on Sky Sports’ Golfing World and Sky Sports News and has written a number of best-selling books on self development and NLP techniques.
 
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