Poulter wants to close book on controversy

Poulter, a seven-time winner on the European Tour, encountered difficulty a month ago when quotes were lifted from an article in Golf World suggesting he was the only player capable of challenging world number one Tiger Woods.

"The trouble is I don't rate anyone else," Poulter was quoted as saying. "Don't get me wrong, I really respect every professional golfer, but I know I haven't played to my full potential and when that happens, it will be just me and Tiger."

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Electric orange: Ian Poulter is hardly a shrinking violet

Speaking yesterday at the DLF Golf & Country Club near Delhi, where he is competing this week at the Johnnie Walker Classic, Poulter claimed the issue was already in the past.

"They were headlines but I think if everybody had read the six pages first of all, then there wouldn't have been any issue," said the 32-year-old.

"To be honest, I've had a lot of comments from that and people that have read the whole article have said that they don't know what the problem is.

"It was a day of banter with the boys, to be perfectly honest with you. I got a lot of stick from the lads but that's been about it. It's all in the past and now it's fish paper.

"More importantly, I'm practising hard and trying to get my game in shape for the tournaments coming up."

Poulter insisted the quotes that were splashed in a number of British dailies were not only taken out of context but were also out of date.

"They weren't asked a few months ago, they were three years old and so they were kind of dated. They weren't really asked in a 10-minute proper interview situation as well. I was actually working at the time on the putting green trying to do my practice.

"My office space was kind of being invaded at the same time so you can probably take some of the comments as tongue in cheek because all I wanted to do was practice and not answer questions."

Despite the controversy, Poulter will not be deterred from speaking his mind in future.

"I am a passionate golfer, I am an ambitious golfer and I'm somebody that gets excited to play golf every time I step onto the course," he continued.

"I speak my mind - perhaps too much occasionally - but I'm being brutally honest and that's how I'll stay. I think goals are achievable and I think when you have goals and are passionate about practising and being able to perform to the best of your ability, then I don't think it's out of order to have those goals high up there.

"There's no problem about having big goals in my eyes. It might be a big problem for other people, but in my eyes, it's fine."