MARANA, ARIZONA // Ian Poulter outplayed his fellow Briton Paul Casey 4&2 to win the Accenture Match Play Championship at Dove Mountain, his tournament triumph in the USA.
"To finally win over here, it means everything," said a delighted Poulter. "I'm just so happy to finally win on American soil."
"I was very comfortable on the course. I felt in control of my game all week. I don't know if there was any given point where it was going to be my week, but I just felt very calm."
The win gave Poulter a US$1.4million (Dh5.1m) winner's cheque and lifted him up to fifth in the world rankings. Poulter, who collected his first ATP title with the victory, was quoted a couple of years ago as saying something along the lines that he felt he could challenge Tiger Woods for the No 1 spot, were he to fulfil his potential.
"I didn't quite say it was just me and Tiger but I felt that if I could deliver what I believed I could, then I could put myself in a good situation and I've certainly done that over the last 18 months and I've certainly been able to deliver on that," he added.
Poulter dominated most of the 36-hole final, trailing for only one hole early on before taking the lead for good at the seventh.
He was two-up after 18 holes and never led by less during the second round.
"Ian played great stuff. You're probably going to write Casey played rubbish but you have to realise Ian played excellent golf," said Casey.
"I think he kept it in play on every single hole around here, and made a lot of clutch putts. He's putting very, very well."
Poulter, 34, has employed science to hone his putting, using a new system that charts the exact break on the greens.
"I don't know if I want to give the secret away but I've done a lot of homework on the greens this week," he said.
* Reuters
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RESULT
Deportivo La Coruna 2 Barcelona 4
Deportivo: Perez (39'), Colak (63')
Barcelona: Coutinho (6'), Messi (37', 81', 84')
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BIO
Favourite holiday destination: Turkey - because the government look after animals so well there.
Favourite film: I love scary movies. I have so many favourites but The Ring stands out.
Favourite book: The Lord of the Rings. I didn’t like the movies but I loved the books.
Favourite colour: Black.
Favourite music: Hard rock. I actually also perform as a rock DJ in Dubai.
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
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hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
Results
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Pathaan
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RESULT
Huddersfield Town 2 Manchester United 1
Huddersfield: Mooy (28'), Depoitre (33')
Manchester United: Rashford (78')
Man of the Match: Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield Town)
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
